Hunger Games High School: the Next Chapter
by CelticGames4
Summary: Cato and Clove broke up before he left for college and she misses him. Prim and Rory are discovering the wonderful world of romance. Vick is trying to get Madge back after cheating on her. Rue and her best friend Skeeter are dating now and she's over the moon. Posy and Bonnie are scared freshmen! Ages changed up a tad; modern high school fic with the OC's of me and others. :)
1. Welcome Back to Panem High!

**Chapter One: Welcome Back to Panem High!**

At the bus stop by the Everdeen house, Primrose Everdeen and Rory Hawthorne wait for the bus together, hand-in-hand.

"How are you doing without Katniss?" the dark-haired boy asks his girlfriend. Prim, as she's called, looks over.

"She's been e-mailing me every day," Prim says, "Us, really. Mostly about how she doesn't miss Buttercup at all." At the mention of the ugly cat, both of the sophomores laugh.

"Miss Gale yet?" Prim asks with a smile, knowing that the oldest Hawthorne has been at college for two years now.

"Yeah. The worst part is when he comes back then leaves again."

Prim nods, holding her schedule in her hands. This year, she helped her boyfriend to organize his school supplies, and his schedule is neatly folded and tucked in his backpack.

"Can we sit in the back of the bus this year?" asks Rory. Prim shrugs, "Sure!"

Next to them, Vick Hawthorne, a junior, is on his knees to be even with his little sister Posy, who will be a freshman this year.

"Ready for your first day?" he asks.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Posy says with a grin, "I can't wait, it's going to be great!"

"Good attitude," the tall boy stands back up, patting his sister's head.

"Stop!" Posy says, "You'll mess up my hair!"

"Sorry," Vick mocks, "That you won't be a princess on your first day of high school."

Posy flicks him, "Hey, now that I'm a freshman I can actually start looking at boys!"

"Right. The first boy that lays a finger on you will get punched by Gale, Rory, and me."

Posy sighs, "I'm not the one that had two girlfriends last year," she says.

Vick, remembering the scenario, swallows hard and looks at the concrete.

"You going to try to get Madge back this year?" Posy asks.

Vick looks up as the calm senior, like himself, walks quietly to the bus stop and talks to Prim.

"Yeah," he mumbles, "But it's not going to be easy."

"No joke," Posy says with an amused smile.

Vick rolls his eyes as the bus approaches their stop.

Once the doors of the bus open, Vick gets on first and goes to the back. Madge walks with Prim and Rory and sit back there with him.

Posy finds her best friend Bonnie, a fellow freshman, and sits next to her.

"Hi!" Posy says happily.

"Hi Posy!" Bonnie says with a grin.

"Can you believe it's our first day of high school!?" Bonnie asks with a grin.

"I sure can't!" Posy says.

"Are you scared?" the brunette asks.

"Yeah, a little," the dark-haired girl confesses, gray eyes looking excited and nervous.

"Me too," Bonnie says, "And I thought I was the only one!" she adds, brown eyes sparkling with relief.

"We'll do awesome, I know it!" Posy says. Bonnie nods shyly.

* * *

At the next bus stop, Clove and her step-sister Athena sit on their driveway and mope.

"I can't believe it's the first day of school," Athena says quietly, as a conversation starter.

Clove looks over. "Cato already started classes, I bet," she says flatly.

"Theo, too," Athena says. Thinking about their ex-boyfriends' smiling faces makes both girls feel sad.

"But… It's our senior year," Clove says, brown eyes looking slightly hopeful.

"You're right. We should enjoy it. Move on from them," Athena says, "Find new boys."

"Yeah, I know," Clove says, "I already know who mine is."

Athena glares for a second but softens her glance, "Yeah, I know. The same as mine."

"Then I guess only one of us can have him. And the other one finds someone else for someone else."

Athena sighs, but nods, "Yeah, I guess."

Clove thinks back to last year, when she, Cato, Glimmer, and Marvel rode in Gloss's truck to school.

Cato had graduated, and the two had broken up the day he left for college. Glimmer had never graduated, but nobody knew what happened to her. Marvel had branched off and made new friends that Clove never cared to associate with.

"Don't think about… You-know-what-or-who…" Athena says quietly.

Clove nods, looking up as the bus comes to pick them up.

The two girls climb on and head to the back. Athena glances away from Vick, sitting next to Madge on the bus and remembering the time he had cheated on her last year. Really, she had been used for him to cheat on Madge.

"Hey," Rory says cooly.

"Hi," Clove says sadly.

Athena waves.

"Cheer up!" Prim says, "It's your senior year!"

Clove nods, Athena looks at the floor of the bus.

Just as Prim finishes talking, the bus stops and picks up Nate McIalwain, a senior with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He sits across from the group in the back cheerfully and smiles at them. Athena and Clove both gaze at him, then look at each other.

His best friend Elijah Crowly hops on and plops down in the seat across from him with a smile. "Good morning," he says cheerily.

"Hi!" Nate says with a smile.

"Hi Elijah," Madge says quietly.

"Well, aren't we all just rays of sunshine today?" he asks teasingly.

"I am!" Nate says. Nobody else says anything.

Next the bus picks up Marvel and his two housemates. Edward and Kelley O'Callaghan are Irish exchange students. Marvel is a junior this year. Edward came to America last year as a freshman, and Kelley came over the summer and is a freshman this year.

Marvel's girlfriend Poppy is already on the bus. She greets him with a large smile upon seeing him. "Hi you!"

"Hey." He takes the seat next to her.

Edward takes the seat next to them and greets them with a cheery smile. "Goudmornin'Poppy!"

"Hi Edward!"

His brother Kelley sits with Bonnie and Posy. The three all spew out their nerves for the first day of school.

* * *

Jason Hollow and Locke Gedeckt, two sophomores, hang out with the others on the back of the bus. Locke, who lost his deceased father's pocket watch a while back, is still devastated over it. His socially awkward friend Jason tries to make up for the lack of his cheery disposition but it doesn't work so well.

The next to board the bus is their friend Tanner Cooper, a junior who is gay and also in love with Locke. He sits in the seat opposite the duo and tries to be cheery but has a hard time being happy upon seeing his crush so upset.

The last bus stop is at the orphanage next door to the school. Linus Shatern and his best friend Arrow Caverly get on the bus together and look for a seat in the front.

"Linus!" Elijah says, waving him over. The blonde walks over and his dark-haired friend follows. Linus gives a little nod to indicate that this is the same Elijah that he's in love with. Arrow ducks his head for a second, heart hurting, but puts on a smile to greet him.

"Hey Arrow!" Nate pipes up.

Arrow smiles at his old lab partner, "Hi Nate."

Linus and Arrow sit down together and both are trying not to look hurt.

"Are you excited for our senior year!?" Elijah asks enthusiastically.

Linus smiles, enjoying how his cerulean blue eyes flicker when they're happy. "Yeah, I guess," Linus says.

"I sure am!" Arrow says, restoring to his normal disposition.

Nate smiles, "This is going to be a great year!" he says.

"Sure is," Linus adds.

All four boys smile.

Tanner looks over. "I'm so excited for the first day!" he says, "At a big high school, wow!"

Arrow laughs, "I don't think we've met. I'm Arrow Caverly."

Tanner waves, "I'm Tanner Tyson Cooper! It's nice to meet you!"

Linus smiles and whispers to Arrow, "He's out of the closet, too."

Arrow looks over. "You know, if you weren't gay with me, I would push you off a cliff for saying stuff like that. So stereotypical," he ends it with that typical Arrow laugh on the end.

"Please don't push me off a cliff," Linus says, teasingly batting his brown eyes.

The black-haired boy rolls his eyes but laughs, heart beating hard in his chest.

Linus turns his attention to Elijah and Nate, laughing loudly together. Arrow follows his gaze, hurt all over again.

"Oh God, Nate, you're just too hilarious!" Elijah says between laughs.

"Hilarious and adorable!" Nate teases. Elijah bites his lip. That's exactly what he was thinking, too.

"You Ok?" Nate asks, and his friend zones back into it. "Oh, um… Yeah."

Linus looks out the window again, hurt.

Tanner turns to Locke and Jason, two sophomores who just transferred last year.

"Guess what?" he finally asks.

It takes a second for either of them to respond. Jason says, "What?"

"I saw Ben yesterday."

Ben Hoffsteader, this year a junior, is the school bully. He gives everyone hell, especially Tanner.

"So what?" Jason asks bitterly, remembering the fights they had last year.

"He… He looked different…. His eyes were red, he looked tired… He just buried his face in his knees…"

Locke looks slightly interested but Jason just scoffs, "Serves him right."

"Yeah," Locke mutters, resting his head against the seat.

* * *

In the Odair car, Finnick drives his wife Annie, adopted son Skeeter, and Skeeter's girlfriend Rue to school.

Annie, a guidance counselor that was promoted to the high school, looks out the window and smiles.

Skeeter and Rue, who have been best friends since first grade, sit hand-in-hand and chat a hundred words a minute. Once again, the two don't have the same lunch, which upsets the sophomores.

"Oh well, at least we have the same chemistry!" Rue smiles.

"Yeah, and glee club." Both are excited about this.

Skeeter speaks up again, "Hey, did you hear!? We finally found some kids who were willing to make a pit for glee club!"

"Really!?" Rue asks, "Awesome!"

"And that includes Jason and Locke," Skeeter says, "After much fighting."

"Cool!" Rue says, "And I got Tanner to sing!"

"Is he any good?"

Rue nods, beaming, as Finnick parks the car.

The two hop out.

"Thanks, Mr. Odair!" Rue says.

"Thanks Dad," Skeeter says, smiling.

"I'll talk to you two later," Finnick says, hugging both of them. Annie hugs Rue and kisses the top of Skeeter's head.

"Have fun on your first day!" she says.

Skeeter grins, "You too!"

Then the two go in the school together for their first day.

* * *

The first meeting of the glee club happens seventh period, the last period of the day.

This year, Athena is the only senior singer. Marvel, and Tanner are the juniors. Rue, Skeeter, Prim, and Edward are the sophomores. Prim also plays in the pit. The freshman are Bonnie, Kelley and Posy.

The three lone freshmen sit in the back of the room. Rue and Skeeter glance back at them and smile.

Mr. Everdeen steps up to the podium and looks at his glee club fondly.

"Welcome back, everyone!" he says, "And welcome to glee club!"

They all grin.

"It's going to be quite the year, I know it!" he says enthusiastically, looking around. "I'm Mr. Everdeen, I hope you know that by now…" he says with a laugh.

Everyone laughs with him.

"And this group is going to be quite fun for all, I hope…"

"It will!" Rue says enthusiastically.

"That's the spirit, Rue!"

Skeeter smiles at his girlfriend.

"Hopefully over the year we can find some more singers. And, of course, the pit!"

"It's exciting!" Marvel says. Everyone nods.

"So does everyone know who's who?"

They all nod.

"Wow, good!"

Everyone smiles.

"Can we sing now!?" Skeeter asks enthusiastically.

Mr. Everdeen laughs, "Well, Skeeter, I don't have any real lesson plans for today. So why don't you all do your spunky little group number to kick us off?"

Athena sighs, looking at her feet, "Gee, Mr. Everdeen, I don't know if I'm in the mood for it quite yet…"

"Singing will always make you feel better!" Skeeter says, grinning, "Come on!"

Athena looks up, smiling slightly. "Maybe…"

"Come on!" Skeeter says, plugging in his iPod and turning up the speaker. And the music starts anyways.

Rue hops up and joins him, Edward and Marvel following. Prim skips up to the freshmen and skips down to the main floor, dragging Posy with her. Soon Edward drags Kelley and Bonnie with him, as well.

Athena, being the only senior, starts it, "See the people walking down the street! Fall in line, watching all their feet!"

Marvel jumps from the step to the main floor, "They don't know, where they wanna go but they're walkin' in time!"

Everyone joins for the chorus,

"They've got the beat,

They've got the beat,

They've got the beat,

YEAH!

They've got the beat!"

Skeeter takes Rue by the hands and spins her around.

She giggles, "All the kids just gettin' out of school!"

Edward interrupts, spinning Posy around and laughing, "They can't wait to hang out and be cool!"

Skeeter takes it back, "Hang around 'till quarter after twelve, that's when the fall in line!"

Everyone pipes back in,

"Kids got the beat!

They got the beat,

They got the beat!

YEEEEEAAAAAH!

Kids got the beat!"

Prim picks up with the next line, "Go-go music really makes us dance! Do the pony puts us in a trans!

Marvel takes it again, "Do the Watusi just give us a chance! That's when we fall in line!"

"'Cause we got the beat!

We got the beat,

We got the beat!

YEEEAAHH!

WE GOT IT!

"We got the beat!"

Everyone looks to the newbies now.

Posy sings first, "Everybody, get on your feet!"

"We got the beat!"

Kelley picks up next, dancing smoothly in his green converse, "We know you can dance to the beat!"

Tanner gulps and tries the best he can to dance well even though he feels uncomfortable, "Jump back and get down!"

Bonnie sings last, "Around and around and A-ROOOUUNNDD!" she nails the high note and everyone dances around.

"We got the beat!

We got the beat, we got the beat!"

And everyone strikes a pose.

Mr. Everdeen applauds, proud of his glee club.

"Very nice!" he says, "So I'll let you in on a piece of news."

Everyone sits back down.

"So, as you may have seen in the news recently, two parents close to the Liberty High Area were murdered last night."

Skeeter looks up, terrified, "No! No! Please tell me it wasn't Jason!"

Soon, everyone starts listing their friends that live in the Liberty High area. "Or Caeda, or Finny, or Faorin, or Indigo, or Bubbles…" Rue mutters, "Oh no…"

"'ErArtelind!" Edward says, looking up.

"Yer'littlegierlie-friend!" Kelley teases.

Mr. Everdeen shakes his head, "No, actually the child was one girl. And her name is Daphne."

Rue and Edward feel bad but relieved that it isn't any of their friends.

Skeeter, emotionally destroyed by this news, frowns, "Oh no… I know how awful that can be…"

Mr. Evedeen nods, "She's being sent to the orphanage here by Panem, because they couldn't find a foster home for her by Liberty."

"Aw," Skeeter says sadly.

"She said the only way she would come to Panem would be on one condition."

"Which is?" Bonnie asks.

"Joining our glee club," Mr. Everdeen says, smiling slightly.

"When does she start?" Rue asks excitedly.

"Monday," Mr. Everdeen says, "And I really want to welcome her in with special hospitality. But you guys are all really good with that."

The group exchanges looks and nods.

"Good. Have a good evening, everyone!" Mr. Everdeen says, as the bell rings and suddenly, the first day is over.

_**A/N: WELCOME TO HUNGER GAMES HIGH SCHOOL! So, this is SOMEWHAT of a sequel to my story Hunger Games High School, but you don't have to read that to understand this so PLEASE stick with me here! Ok, so it's a lot of characters to keep track of but I promise it'll get easier as the year goes on. So PLEASE if you liked it favorite and follow, and I would LOVE it if you would leave a review in that box there. I try to update weekly, usually either on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays.**_

_**Jason and Locke belong to SinfonianLegend. 72 Hours Remain. READ IT.**_

_**Linus, Arrow, and Daphne belong to Wetstar. Not Forgotten. :D AWESOME STORY. **_

_**The rest are all mine, and of course, Suzanne Collins's.**_

_**I do not own anything relating to the Hunger Games. **_


	2. I don't belong here

**Chapter 2: I Don't Belong Here**

The girl with curly brown hair and a piercing stare arrives at Panem Orphanage that Sunday. The other orphans show her to her room and leave her to unpack her things.

Daphne gets to work unpacking her things. She hates everything about this place.

She takes the framed picture of her parents out of her bag and stares at it for a second.

"Mom, Dad… Don't you have anyone that can save me?!" she sniffles, "Anyone…"

Daphne puts the picture on the little dresser with her name on it.

"I don't want to go here. I want to go to Liberty High," she whispers. "I want to go home."

But Daphne knows that she'll never be in her true home again.

Every once in a while, one of the orphans comes to welcome Daphne in, but she'll never feel at home here.

Monday comes faster than Daphne would've liked. She doesn't want to go to Panem. She never will want to go to Panem. But, like everything the girl has had to go through, she knows that she needs to face it already.

So she gets up when she's called and sulks around to get ready. Daphne doesn't care about how she looks on her endeavors to get ready for the first day school, so she runs a brush through her hair and puts on a nice shirt and skinny jeans.

She walks out to the kitchen where Linus and Arrow are waiting for her.

"Hi Daphne," Linus says, trying to sound happy.

"Good morning," Arrow says quietly.

"Hey," she says with a frown.

"Hey, don't worry! You'll have a lot of fun today!" Linus tries but Daphne shakes her head.

"I'm going to _survive. _Nothing more, nothing less. Because that's what I've done lately."

"Well-"

Arrow elbows his friend.

"Li, give it up," he whispers.

He nods as they walk outside to catch the bus.

"Come on, Daphne. You can sit with us," Linus says, trying to smile.

"So, glee club's on all of our schedules, right?" Elijah asks. Nate and Santana both nod.

"Hey guys." Arrow says.

"Hi!" Elijah says.

"Heeey-" Nate stops short upon seeing the pretty girl.

"Guys, this is Daphne," Linus says.

"H-h-hi," Nate stammers out.

"You Ok?" Arrow asks, raising an eyebrow.

"F-F-Fine…" Nate mutters thoughtfully.

Arrow sits in a seat with Daphne and Linus sits in a seat by himself that's close to the others.

"Hey, um, Linus? I need to talk to you," Elijah says, "Later, though…"

"Oh? Um, Ok…"

Arrow glares at them.

"You Ok?" Daphne asks.

"Fine," Arrow says.

* * *

Clove wakes up that morning feeling a lot more positive. Athena feels better as well.

Both girls get their stuff together and go outside to get on the bus. They take a seat together near Nate.

"Hey Clove…" Athena whispers.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it's pointless? Chasing him?"

"For you," she mutters.

"For both of us…" Athena says quietly.

"Why would you say that?" she asks.

"Because look at him. He's making googly eyes at that new chick!" Athena says.

"Well then we just automatically hate her," Clove mutters, "But he's the closest thing I have to Cato and I'm not giving up."

"Yes, but you just compared him to Cato!" Athena says.

"So?"

"So, my point is that you're still in love with Cato! And me with Theo!"

"You think?"

"I know it. Clove, I'm just saying, maybe we shouldn't rush the whole relationship thing."

"What if I feel ready?"

"What if you're lying?"

Clove glares. "So maybe I still am in love with Cato, but who cares!?"

"I think you care."

The girls sit the rest of the bus ride in silence.

* * *

Posy and Bonnie chat excitedly about their weekends and days at school.

Locke and Jason sit quietly in the back. Locke longs for his pocketwatch back and Jason longs to comfort him.

* * *

They arrive at the school and everyone walks to first period.

"Linus!" Elijah pulls his friend aside outside the school. The blonde boy's heart-rate picks up immediately. Yes, as much as he doesn't like to admit it, he's in love with Elijah.

"You know that battle we've been having all summer?"

"About…"

Elijah whispers to him, "About Nate. And I."

"Yeah…? What about it?"

The brunette looks around and whispers in his friend's ear, "Yeah. It's… It's a certain thing… I'm in love with him."

Linus's eyes grow. "You are!?"

"Sh! You can't tell anyone… Especially not him…"

"You have to tell him!"

"I…I will… I just need to find a good time to do so…"

"I can't believe it…" Linus says.

"Yeah, me neither," Elijah mutters, "But those beautiful blue eyes, adorable dirty blonde hair… He's the one for me…"

"Yeah," Linus mutters, trying his best to smile, "Yeah… You'll be cute together."

Then the two go to class, Linus smiling but broken.

* * *

"Dude!" Nate says, catching up to Elijah, "That Daphne girl. What do you think of her!?"

"She seems depressed," Elijah says honestly.

Nate rolls his eyes, "I know that. But I meant… She's kinda cute!"

Elijah rolls his eyes right back, "You're saying that you might like her…?"

Nate shrugs, "Hard to say now. I haven't even formally talked to her. Ever. But, I'm just saying… She seems special…."

"Yeah…" Elijah sys, "Totally… You…You'll be cute together."

Nate smiles, "You think!? Awesome!"

* * *

Then both boys go to first period.

Daphne walks around Panem and tries to find her way to her first period. After ditching Arrow and Linus bitterly, she walks to class.

A boy with olive green eyes and brown hair runs straight into her.

"Woah!" she stumbles.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" he snaps, looking up. Upon seeing her pretty face, Ben stammers.

"Daphne," she introduces, "Are you Ok?"

"I-I'm fine…" he mumbles.

"You sure?" she raises an eyebrow at his stuttering.

Ben nods, turning slightly pink.

"Do you know where room 225 is?" she asks.

"Yeah!" he says, "That's where I go first period too!"

She smiles, "Oh. Well then I guess I got lucky."

He smiles back, "Wow. Yeah, then…" he chuckles nervously, "I guess you did…"

The junior smiles at the orphaned senior and Daphne smiles back.

_Wow… She's special… _Ben thinks as he escorts her to their first period. _But she'll never love a creep like me… _he sighs sadly.

"You fine still?"

"Yeah," he says, "Just dandy."

"Yeah, same here," she mutters sadly.

"Here it is," Ben says, walking in.

"Nice," she whispers, following.

* * *

Rory and Prim walk to first period together.

"Prim, I'm gonna get good grades this year. I can just feel it!"

"I know you can do it, Rory!"

"Me too! You know, for once I'm feeling good about the year!"

"Well we'll just have to keep that up!" Prim says, poking Rory's cheek.

Her boyfriend grins, cheeks flushing slightly, "That means I just need you by my side."

"Aw, stop it!" she giggles.

"So, how does it look for orchestra chairs this year?" he teases.

"Shut up. I might get emotional about that, but I like to sit on the end!" Prim protests.

Rory laughs, "How do you know that wasn't genuine?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I think I know what my boyfriend sounds like when he's joking around," Prim says, flicking his arm.

"Ow. That hurt so much," he says sarcastically.

"Aw, yeah, yeah."

"Fine. Let me try again," Rory says. Then he puts on his trying-to-be-genuine face. "How are orchestra seats going to turn out?"

"Wow, Rory, I'm glad you asked!" Prim says, practically dying to tell someone, "Well Pandora switched to cello this year! So I think first chair is in good reach for me!" Prim says with a proud smile.

Her biggest competition: not only for orchestra but also for Rory: had gone from her worst enemy to her best friend through the course of last year.

"Wow," Rory says, "My little violisistis," he teases.

Prim smacks him lightly, "Say it right, for God's sake!"

They both laugh, walking into the classroom together.

* * *

First period drags.

Nate spends the period thinking of Daphne. Elijah zones out thinking of Nate's blue eyes. Then he snaps out of it, realizing that his best friend will never love him back. Linus spends his time drawing block letters that spell out _ELIJAH _on a page in the back of his notebook. But he realizes that Elijah will never love him back. And Arrow zones out and in, out and back in, dozing off to Linus's laugh, or smile, or even those big brown eyes.

Ben glances at Daphne when she's not looking, feeling incredibly sorry for himself that he's such a freak.

* * *

Second and third period come and go, and soon Daphne has lunch. Earlier that day she got permission to go to the auditorium to eat and practice her song for glee club. The song would not only serve as a first impression but also an audition in the eyes of the orphan girl.

She takes a look at the lyric sheets and puts her CD in the player.

Ben, an office aid during third period, walks by the auditorium and hears a CD track playing. Seeing Daphne on stage causes him to take off running inside.

She hits the pause button. "Hi Ben," she says.

"Hey," he waves.

"What are you up to?"

"Practicing a song. It's supposed to be for a guy but I found a version for girls, too. Except it's a duet, so I have to sing the boy's part up an octave."

Ben blinks. "Do you need help!?" he asks, "Because I can help you! I mean, my singing voice isn't that great, but…"

"Do you sing here?"

"No way. I'm not that great, I told you."

"Oh. Well, sure. I'd love your help. Maybe we can try out together!"

"No. Never."

"Oh. Well, Ok…"

She passes him the lyric sheet and presses play on the CD player.

"You start," she whispers. Ben skims over the words and takes a breath.

"Well, um… When you were here before….  
Couldn't look you in the eye.  
You're just like an angel…  
Your skin makes me cry…"

He stands up and joins her on stage.

You float like a feather….  
In a beautiful world.  
I wish I was special…  
You're so very special!"

Both of them sing desperately, "But I'm a creep!

I'm a weirdo!

What the hell am I doing here!?

…I don't belong here…"

Daphne, amazed at Ben's exceptional singing voice, thinks of her parents and tears come to her eyes.

As for the school bully, he feels every single word of the song as he sings it. Ben's never been so openly vulnerable before. He feels like he's pouring his heart out to Daphne and she thinks of her parents, desperately wanting to be back home where she belongs.

"BUT I'M A CREEP!

I'M A WEIRDO!

WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?!

**I DON'T BELONG HERE!"**

She practically screams it. Tears pour out of both their eyes.

Just around here, Tanner opens the door to the auditorium and looks inside.

What he sees shocks him.

_Ben… The school bully… And he's so sad… Why!? _

"HE'S…. RUNNIN' OUT THE DOOR!"

Daphne stomps a foot and clenches her teeth as she sings.

Ben growls out the words as loud as he can, releasing a hell of a lot of anger that he can't keep contained for any longer.

"SHE'S… RUNNIN' OUT…

She's run…

Run…

Run…

RUN!" and on this note Daphne uses her chest voice and belts, Ben trying to copy but getting a bit of a raspier tone.

Tanner continues to look in the doorway, still in shock of what he sees.

_Ben… Crying!? _

Daphne looks at the floor, tears in her voice so strong that she can barely hold a pitch.

"Whatever makes you happy…

Whatever you want…"

Ben stares at the floor as well, trying to blink the tears away.

"You're so very special…

I wish I was special…"

The junior takes both her hands in his and whispers the last chorus quietly but with good pitch,

"But I'm a creep…

I'm a weirdo…

What the hell am I doing here…?

…I don't belong here…"

And for the last one, Daphne doesn't bother to sing but says loudly with tears in her voice, "I don't belong here."

* * *

When the pit members and glee club arrive in the choral room seventh period, Tanner is still slightly in shock.

"You Ok?" Skeeter asks.

"Fine," Tanner says.

"You don't look like you mean it," Rue whispers.

"Just something that happened earlier," he mutters.

Locke and Jason wave to their friends.

Santana, a piccolo and also a drum major of the marching band, takes a seat by Elijah and Nate and looks up at the sophomores. Locke sulks and Jason comforts him.

"Are those two a thing?" Santana whispers to Elijah.

"Dunno," the still-hurting boy whispers.

So she calls up to them, "Hey Hollow!"

He looks down, "Huh?"

"You two a thing!?" Santana asks.

"NO!" they both say quickly, "Just friends!"

Santana breathes a sigh of relief.

"Why do you care?" Nate asks.

"Never said I did!" Santana says.

"Then why did you ask!?" Elijah challenges.

"Because-"

"Which one!?"

"Wh-what?!"

"WHICH ONE!?" Nate asks, shaking her, "Santana showing interest in the romantic affairs of one of them!"

"It's neither!" she says, "I hate people, you know that!"

"Sure," Elijah says, grinning.

Santana rolls her eyes at them.

But on the inside her heart beats faster.

_Jason Hollow is single. _

Daphne walks in the room sadly, with her head down.

"Hi Daphne!" Nate says, waving, but Daphne's attention is with someone else.

"Is that… Could it be… Is it…?"

A grin spreads across Daphne's face. "IT IS! LOCKE!"

He looks over, "Daphne!?"

He stands up and the girl runs to her childhood best friend, tackling him in a hug.

Daphne hugs Locke tightly and whispers, "W-wow… Y-you've really c-changed… Since you left…"

"What? You mean I got glasses, and I guess my voice got a little deeper…"

Daphne blushes, unwilling to mention that she was referring to the muscle he's gained since they last met.

"I missed you so bad!" she cries.

"And don't you worry, girl…" he whispers, "Because I know exactly what you're going through…."

She sniffles, "But you're living with Jason… You never had to go to an orphanage…"

Locke frowns, "True. But I've lost so much…"

Daphne likes the protective embrace of Locke. Nate looks on in disgust.

"Nate… You Ok?" Elijah asks.

"Fine," he says, even though he doesn't mean it.

"Ok, everyone! It's time to welcome our newest member to the glee club!"

Locke and Daphne take their seats.

"Everyone, meet Daphne!" Mr. Everdeen says.

Daphne gives a little wave, tears rolling down her face.

Skeeter taps his foot, unnerved. "Guys, do you mind if I sing something?"

Rue looks over. All attention goes to Skeeter.

"I believe that's up to Daphne. Would you like to go first?" he asks. The new girl shakes her head, squeaking slightly from tears, "No… It's fine…"

Skeeter gratefully takes the floor.

He clears his throat, "Ahem…. Ok, so, I heard about everything with Daphne and her Mom and Dad."

She lets out another squeak.

"And I'm… I'm really sorry. I mean, really, the news sent a pain through my heart, and it touched a really deep place within me. So last night, I prepared a little song just for her."

Rue lets out a tiny, "Aaaaww…."

Skeeter's electric blue eyes fill with tears. "Last year, my Dad drank too much. He went on a rampage… Shot my Mom… Shot himself…" A tear already rolls down his face.

Rue and Edward look sad particularly.

"I really depended on this song to get me through that. It was..." he takes a second to bury his face in his hands and recompose himself, "Oh God," he whispers tearily.

"Take your time," Rue whispers softly.

Skeeter nods, "Right… Well, um… This song was one that I listened to every day… It really carried me through. And it was a dream of mine for someone to actually sing it to me. So," he presses play, "I'm giving it to you. He sniffles before singing,

"When your day is long…  
And the night… The night is yours alone.  
When you're sure you've had enough…  
Of this life… Well hang on.

Don't let yourself go!  
'Cause everybody cries…  
And everybody hurts… Sometimes…"

He pulls up a chair and sits in the middle of the room, looking around the crowd of high schoolers. Rue leans against Marvel's shoulder, tears pouring out of her brown eyes. She reflects to last year, when her best friend and the love of her life was about to kill himself.

"When your day is night alone…

Hold on…

If you feel like letting go…

Well…Hold on…

If you think you've had too much

Of this life…

Well hang on."

Marvel puts an arm around Rue, looking sadly at his Irish roommate Edward from across the room.

Kelley sadly rests his head on his brother's chest. The freshman reaches over and takes Posy's hand.

A slight blush forming on the Hawthorne girl's cheeks, she takes Bonnie's hand as well. Bonnie listens to the words and feels a very powerful feeling that she's never felt before. Skeeter makes eye-contact with Daphne before starting again,

"Don't throw your hand!

Oh….. No."

He doesn't make an effort to wipe the tears coming from his eyes,

"Don't throw your hand!"

Skeeter closes his eyes for a second, focusing on sending a heart-to-heart message to Daphne.

"If you feel like you're alone…

No… no…no!

You're not alone!"

Daphne nods, a hand over her heart, tears streaming down her face as well.

Locke, who is usually emotionally stable and calm, has trouble holding on to it today. Thinking about Daphne's parents gone, combined with the loss of his parents, and the loss of his pocketwatch: the last physical memory that Locke had of his deceased father: is too much for the sophomore to handle.

"You Ok?" Jason asks, even though it's blatantly obvious that he's not.

"I… I need a second…" he buries his face in his hands.

"When you think you've had too much… Of this life… To hang on…"

Skeeter locks eyes with Tanner. The junior, still confused about Ben and starting to feel for him, has tears at his eyes and also takes the opportunity to bury his face.

"Well, everybody hurts….. Sometimes!

Everybody cries!

Everybody hurts… _Sometimes_!"

Elijah and Nate exchange a glance. Nate is confused as to why his best friend's eyes are glassy, but Elijah knows exactly what's bothering Nate.

Nate hates seeing Daphne with Locke.

But what he doesn't know is that Elijah hates seeing Nate look after Daphne.

Santana, the girl of stone, sits in her spot, practically emotionless. Not a very vulnerable or emotional person, Santana has trouble feeling the heart of Skeeter's song.

Athena thinks of her ex Theo and whimpers quietly, missing him now more than ever and burying her face in her knees. Prim wraps an arm around Bonnie sadly.

Rue starts to cry slightly louder. Her whimpers pick up in pitch and in volume.

This hurts Skeeter, even more, causing more tears to flow out of his eyes as he continues,

"And everybody hurts… Sometimes… So-"

He quickly switches off the CD player and sings by himself, a single voice in the room of sniffling, crying, and whimpering kids.

"Hold on.

Hold on.

Hold on…

If you think you've had too much…

Hold on…

If you think you've had too much…

Hold on…

Hold on…"

When Skeeter fades off the last note, the club sits in a sad silence for 20 seconds.

Skeeter looks around at the club. So many people huddled together. Crying alone. Being comforted by friends. And, once again, the power of music explodes right in front of him.

Then the glee club blinks, trying to feel good again, and everyone claps for him.

Daphne squeaks, jumping up and hugging him. Skeeter, after a delay, hugs her back.

"Thank you," she squeaks through her tears, "That song… It was absolutely perfect. And I'm sorry about your parents."

"I'm sorry, too," he whispers, "But it gets better."

"I believe that…" she whispers shakily, "I believe it now."

"Good. You'll be loved here," he says.

"Sure will… Skeeter, was it?"

He nods and she continues, "Well Skeeter, that is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. That was so heartfelt, and so sweet…. And, to be honest, it's probably the best thing anyone could've done to lessen the pain."

"I know what it's like," he mutters.

Then they release and Skeeter takes his seat back next to Rue. Locke still doesn't unbury his head. Tanner looks up. Rue cries into her boyfriend's shoulder silently, "Skeeter… That was beautiful…"

"Really beautiful," Bonnie adds, wiping her eyes.

Everyone else agrees.

Athena sighs, "This all just reminds me of Theo…"

"Don't worry," Marvel says quietly, "The wound will heal, I'm sure…"

Athena nods, wiping her eyes as well.

"Daphne… Do you want to go next?"

"Actually…" she says, voice shaking, "Can I maybe sing tomorrow?"

Mr. Everdeen nods, "Of course. We'll all be looking forward to it."

They silently share their feelings until the bell rings for the end of the day.


	3. A Friday Night Football Game!

**Chapter 3: A Friday Night Football Game!**

Athena knows it won't make Clove feel better to go to a football game, but she'd much rather go there as opposed to staying at home and moping.

"Clove! Come on!"

"I don't want to go!"

"Please!? Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Can't we just go next week?"

"We can go to both."

"I don't want-"

"Clove, you love watching football. You know that."

"Yeah… I guess you're right. But it'll just hurt so bad…"

"No it won't. You'll be having fun in no time, I promise!"

"Fine. I'm in."

Athena smiles, knowing that her step-sister couldn't resist football if she tried.

She pulls on a hoody and ties her tennis shoes.

Clove does the same, picking a hoody that belonged to her step-brother Nikko, who's in college.

"Who drives!?" Athena quizzes.

"I will," Clove says, "You can deal with the traffic, driving back."

"Gee, thanks," Athena mutters.

"You're welcome!"

"Come on," Athena says, walking outside in the chilly night.

Clove soon follows her sister.

_I swear that I won't think about Cato…_

* * *

Madge and Prim carpool to go to the football game together.

They have to go fairly early because Prim has to report for dancing.

The whole ride up, the blue-eyed girl texts her boyfriend about the band's halftime show and how he can find her in the blocks of marchers and dancers. The gray-eyed girl beside her looks over her shoulder and giggles.

"So Vick's on the team this year?" Prim finally asks, looking up.

"Yeah," Madge says, "But not like I care. He's a cheating idiot."

"Do you ever think he's changed?"

"Maybe he has. Maybe he won't."

"Has he talked to you at all this year?" she asks, fully aware of Vick's intent to win her back.

"Besides a periodic _hi _or _how are you_? No, not at all."

"Ah, I see…" Prim says, texting Rory at the same time.

"Gosh Prim, what do you two have to talk about all the time!?"

"Right now… We're discussing homecoming."

"You want to go?"

"Possibly," Prim says, "We're not sure."

"I think it'd be fun."

"You do? Maybe it would be…"

"Up to you, though," Madge says.

"Yeah," Prim says thoughtfully, "I guess we'll see."

* * *

"This is exciting!" Tanner cheers from the stands.

"How did I let you people drag me out here at 6:30 at night?" Rue asks with a sigh, plopping down on the bleachers.

Skeeter and Tanner exchange a look of excitement before they both face Rue.

"WE HAVE THE SLEEPY HAHA'S!" Skeeter cheers with a fist-pump. He and the junior high five.

"Well you also get really loud when you have the sleepy haha's."

"WE KNOW!" Tanner shouts, "THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT FUN!"

Rue rolls her eyes but the other two whoop.

"A better question is, why do I hang out with you people!?"

"Come on! You love us and you know it!" Skeeter says, bending down to kiss her cheek and then pull her up to a standing position.

"Just let loose! It's a Friday night, after all!" Tanner says.

"WOO!" Skeeter says and the two reach across Rue to high five again.

"You two are impossible."

"Come on Rue!"

She giggles and lets out a whoop, "Fine. Maybe this'll be fun."

* * *

At the orphanage, Linus and Arrow layer up as well.

"I don't get it. You've never even cared to go to a football game before, why is it so important now!?"

"I want to get involved in my school activities," Linus says.

"You want to see Elijah and the band," Arrow corrects and his friend nods.

"I'm just a transparent little ghost to you, aren't I?"

"We're best friends, Li," the dark-haired boy says with a laugh, "I know you better than anyone else ever will!"

He wants to add on a, _and Elijah will never be me, _but instead just tries to be enthusiastic.

"Plus it'll be fun to actually go out and do something for once instead of sitting at home and doing nothing."

"You're right on that one," Arrow mutters.

"Hey, Daphne! Why don't you come with us!?"

"Why would I!?" she says, "My true home is Liberty High. I should be going to _their _football games, not these."

"It'll be fun, though! You can see Elijah… and Nate, and I think that Skeeter and Rue are going, too… Come on, it'll be fun!"

She glares, "No. No way. You two can go have fun but I'm not. I told you, I _survive."_

"Suit yourself," Linus says, before turning to his dark-haired friend again, "Ready?"

"Yeah," Arrow says, "Sure. We can walk up."

Linus smiles and walks out the door, Arrow following.

Daphne sits on her bed and thinks.

And she knows that thinking is dangerous. She knows that thinking will only hurt her more and keep her awake at night.

And Daphne doesn't want to think. She's exhausted and needs to get her mind off the world.

So, when she's sure the two friends are far on their way to the stadium, she decides to follow them.

Daphne walks in the evening light to the high school. On her way she sees a figure sitting against a building that she recognizes immediately.

"Ben!" she takes off running to her friend. Upon seeing her, Ben throws the cigarette he's holding into the adjacent alley and puts the lighter back in his sweatshirt pocket.

"Hi Daphne," he says, "What are you doing out here?"

"I was going to the football game. But now I'm hanging out with you."

"Y…You a-are!?" he stammers.

She smiles, stringing her fingers in the belt loops of her jeans, "Sure. What're you up to, anyways?"

"Hanging out," he says, "Wandering, mostly."

"Wanna go to the game with me?" she asks, taking on an amused posture.

"Y-yeah… Sure…"

"Good," she says with a smile, "Because I still have trouble finding it on my own."

Ben smiles slightly, taking off in a sprint and making himself laugh. When he feels far enough away, he tosses the lighter out of his pocket and the box with it.

Daphne laughs slightly, catching up to him.

"Wait for me!" she says with a smile, running to catch up to him.

"Sorry," he says with a laugh, slowing to a walk.

"It's fine," she says quietly, walking with him.

They walk in silence for a while.

"How are you liking Panem?" he asks.

"It will never be home," she whispers, "But other than that, I guess it's… _Nice."_

"Nice? That's one word to use," he whispers, "It's not exactly my paradise, either."

"It's not?"

"No way."

"Then I guess it's you and I in this mess," she mutters.

"Guess so."

His left hand slides in his jeans pocket but he leaves his right hand out.

"You know… I might just be able to survive here."

"You think?"

She nods, smiling ever-so-slightly as their knuckles brush together. "Yeah," she finally responds.

"Well I guess I can survive, too."

"We can do it together," she says, just as their fingers interlock.

* * *

Kelley and Edward walk in the stadium full of people. The freshman takes on an amazed expression.

"Wooowww…." He says, "Thaut'sh'a'bloodylottapeople…"

Edward laughs, "Shure's!"

Kelley grins up at his brother. "Talkta'yergirlfriendlately?" he asks with a wink.

Edward groans, "She'sNOTm'girlfriend," he says.

The _girlfriend _that he's referring to is a mute girl named Artelind who goes to Liberty High, a school fairly close to Panem. They met last year through Locke and Jason, who had a past of living in the area.

Edward hasn't seen her, or even talked to the mousy girl since the end of that summer.

"Ya'needtagitonthaut!" Kelley says loudly and teasingly, "B'fouresoumb'dyelsedoesh!"

"Shutyermouth," Edward groans, finding a place to sit in the stands.

Madge pays admission for herself and walks over to the Student Section of the stands.

"Hi Madge!" Rory greets over the other people talking.

"Hey Rory!" Posy says, "Can I go see Kelley!? He's right there," she points.

Rory laughs, "Sure, Pos." He ruffles her hair and she smacks his hand, "You and Vick really need to quit that!"

"Sorry you won't look like a princess going to meet your prince," Rory teases.

"Shut up!" Posy says, cheeks turning pink, "I'm leaving!"

The freshman storms off and the others laugh.

"Kelley! Hi!" Posy says with a smile and a wave.

"Hi!" the boy grins.

"Vick's number 37. What's Marvel?"

"Noumber49!" he pipes up happily.

"Awesome!" she says, "This is gonna be fun!"

"Soufun!" Kelley grins.

"Mind if I sit with you guys?" she asks, smoothing down her hair, "My own brother's getting annoying."

"Shure!" Edward says with a laugh.

Kelley sits in the middle of his friend and brother, and they wait for the game to start.

* * *

In the meantime, the group of bandies meet up in the auditorium before the game starts.

Above the chatter and excited bandies, Nate shouts orders for the percussionists to put on their drums and meet up on the stage. The dancers spend their time doing hair and makeup and doing their make-up in the mirror.

Bonnie looks proudly at her reflection, glad that she could do it all today without any help from Prim.

The other instrumentalists play as they please, Locke and Jason trying to talk above the other talking people and the playing bandies.

"It's going to rock, I promise!" Jason says, "Can't you feel it!?"

"Not really," Locke has to be honest.

"Maybe Daphne will be there!"

"Doubt it. The girl's pretty damn stubborn about that stuff."

"Come on, Locke! Please for just one night…"

"Unless you can magically put the watch in my hands, I'll be upset."

"Fine," Jason says with a frown, and soon they're being called to their seats to warm up.

A warm-up session and a dance party later, and the bandies are lined up to march to the stadium, ball-caps on and bags over their shoulders.

Elijah, Jessie, and Santana are in the front, and are the first to march into the stadium. Behind them, the dancers, which includes Prim.

Rory carefully looks at the dancers and spots his girlfriend easily, grinning and cheering her name as the group marches past the student section.

Linus stands on his toes to watch Elijah and the others marching past, whistling and cheering with the crowd. Skeeter and Tanner yell loudly, Rue laughing and whistling with her fingers.

Elijah fights the urge to grin as they march past the student section. Santana looks terrifying as a girl can look as she marches past the opposing band and Jessie has a piercing look of intimidation as well. Even Elijah's soft blue eyes look superior and proud.

Soon the band is lined up for their pregame show, which include the Star Spangled Banner, the Panem High School Alma Mater, and the Panem High Fight song.

Today, Santana is on the center podium, and her arms stay steady and firm the whole time.

She gives Jason, who stands in the front center of the block, the slightest smile and wink, much to the confusion of Elijah and Nate.

Then she starts pregame and nobody has time to think of it.

* * *

Soon the band is seated in the stands, chattering and whooping and cheering for the football team.

Vick starts out on the field, Marvel waiting for his turn.

Poppy comes just as the game is starting and sits next to Edward. "Hey guys!" she says over the cheering crowd.

"'AlloPoppy!" Edward says cheerily.

"Hi!" Posy says to the junior as she sits in the stands. Her loopy pigtails hang to her shoulders and her bright blue eyes are smiling.

"How do you even play football!?" Poppy asks, amused.

"No idea!" Posy says.

"Jus'chir'whenthecrowd'shchirin'!" Kelley says and Edward agrees.

Soon Vick gets the ball and starts running, and the crowd goes wild.

The band in the stands screams at the top of their lungs.

Locke opens his mouth and pretends to scream but in reality no noise comes out.

Jason yells as loud as he can when the teams run past, pumping his fist at the distance Vick was able to get.

Santana's voice is covered by the people for once, and she grins proudly at the team, "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" she says with a grin, giving Jessie an obnoxiously hard high five through their gloves.

Jason looks over to where Locke's sulking in the tenor saxophone section and frowns, looking back to where the Santana is shouting, "IRON MAN AT THE SNAP!"

"GET 'EM UP, PERCUSSION!" Nate shouts, holding his sticks in his hands and tapping the rim on his quads in the rhythm of the song.

Jason flips through his unorganized flip folder to find the song he needs and hurriedly gets his trumpet to his lips.

Locke calmly flips to the correct page and holds the reed to his mouth.

"ONE, TWO, ONE TWO THREE FOUR!" Santana screams, and the band is off.

Playing makes Locke feel a lot better already. He silently roots for the football team and watches the game.

The first touchdown sends a wave of cheering through the crowd.

The drum majors whoop and fist-pump and scream at the top of their lungs before preparing to play the fight song. Prim cheers and screams and whistles for Vick, Bonnie cheering as well but not as loud.

Then Jason blasts the Fight Song, Santana giving him a harsh but teasing look from the center podium, Locke also playing loudly and finding his happy place.

When they finish and the team scores the extra point, the band is jumping up and down and clapping and cheering.

"GO PANEM!"

Tanner and Skeeter high five and cheer at the top of their lungs. Rue laughs, screaming loudly herself and high-fiving each of her friends. Poppy grins and all four of the group cheer as well.

Even Clove and Athena leave their baggage at the door and let loose. Daphne gives a little whistle and Ben lets out a whoop, both of them grinning and laughing.

The rest of the game goes just as well, Marvel finally getting to take the field.

Elijah cheers and bounces on the balls of his feet excitedly each time Panem gets the ball.

"PLAYING SEVEN NATION ARMY AT THE QUARTER!" Santana and Elijah shout, and Nate once again nags the percussion to "GET 'EM UP!"

Everyone keeps a close eye on the clock as it ticks from 3 minutes to 0 to signify the end of the first quarter.

Currently, the Muttations are leading with a score of 28 to nothing.

Santana counts off the band and they play Seven Nation Army as loud as they can, Locke getting a loud but good sound out of his instrument.

Much to the band's dismay, the song has to be cut off early, so they turn their attention to the game again and continue to cheer.

The band continues to play short songs in the stands until the clock hits 4 minutes and it's time for them to start warming up.

Jason smiles at Locke and gives him a thumbs-up.

Locke gives his friend a tiny smile back.

"Hi guys!" Elijah says cheerily.

"Hi Elijah," Jason says with a smile.

"Guys, tonight's the night! We're going to ROCK!"

"You think?" Jason asks, raising an eyebrow.

"We KNOW!" Santana says with a wink.

"You're cheery today," Elijah remarks.

"Am I? Well, I can hate people _and _still be the best person to walk the earth," she teases.

"Of course you can," Nate says, on his way to the plume-box, "And that was sarcastic, Cupcake."

"Gee, I had no idea," Santana sneers.

"Guys, take a look up at that moon," Nate says, pointing up to the sky with a stick.

Tonight, the moon looks to be an orange-red color.

"Wow," Elijah says with a smile. "That's just cool right there."

"It's a harvest moon, idiots," Santana says, but she hints at a smile.

"Cool!" Jason says.

"It is pretty cool," Locke says, eyes fixed on the sky.

"It's almost red!" Nate says, "And I think that a blood-red moon is pretty frickin' AWESOME!"

"You do?" Elijah asks, "I mean, it's pretty, but awesome…?"

"Sure!" Nate says, "It's blood red for Heaven's sakes! AWESOME! It's so eerie and cool-looking…"

"Come on, Moon Boy," Snatana says, rolling her eyes, "It's time to warm up, all of you!"

"Good luck again!" Nate says as they all separate into their sections.

The band members warm up and start walking around the track to their spots just as the visiting band starts their show.

Soon, the other band has marched off and it's time for the Panem High Marching Band to take the field.

"Ladies and gentlemen… Your PANEM HIGH MARCHING BAND!"

Linus keeps his eyes focused on the right podium, while Rue, Tanner and Skeeter scream as loud as they can for Locke and Jason.

Rory and Madge whoop for Prim, Rory finding her in the crowd of girls moving around the right of the field.

Posy cheers for both Prim and Bonnie, Kelley primarily screaming for the brown-haired, brown-eyed girl.

Arrow cheers for them, hiding his hurt behind the whistling and cheering.

Some of the band's shapes are slightly crooked, and some of the sections are slightly quieter than they should be, but overall the band was better than last week and better in the eyes of their directors.

Clove and Athena take halftime to get snacks from the concession stand, though they are amused by the band's playing as well.

And before they know it, the seven-minute show is over and the band is marching off the field in wavy diagonal lines.

The crowd goes wild, Daphne giving a whistle when she sees her friends from Liberty within the crowd of people.

And so the third quarter begins, with Panem High in an iron-fisted lead with a score of 35 to nothing.

Elijah wipes the sweat from his forehead and takes an apple and bottle of water for himself and for Nate, who has to lug his drums back up in the stands with him. Locke and Jason are just thankful that they can take their helmets off, appreciating the air on their foreheads for the brief seconds before they have to put their hats back on.

Elijah is ecstatic that the band marched so well and played just as well. The three drum majors all chatter excitedly and the directors soon join the excitement.

The band doesn't play at all the third quarter, but instruments are back up and children are reenergized by the fourth.

Linus and Arrow decide to start back home partway through the third quarter, and Daphne and Ben leave soon after.

The fourth quarter drags on for Locke, who wants to pass out from exhaustion. Some, though, like Elijah and Bonnie, are energetic the whole time.

Skeeter, Rue, and Tanner are picked up halfway through the fourth quarter to prevent having to sit in traffic.

When the game is over, the band plays the fight song one last time and everyone cheers, Elijah and Nate among the loudest of the loud.

Marvel and Vick high-five but the tension between them from last year is still very high.

Overall, though, it's a great night, and is going to be a great season.


	4. REJECTION WEEK DAY ONE!

_**A/N: HAPPY REJECTION WEEK! Haha, it won't actually be happy! So this is my first set of daily updates! I did this in the prequel to this story for one week (and trust me, Depressing One-Shot From The Characters' POV Week is TOTALLY coming back!) but I liked it so much I want to do it a lot more often! So here's Part One!**_

**Chapter 4: Never Good Enough**

Elijah and Nate have always been somewhat closer than best friends. In a way, they've always been brothers. The two complete each other, there is never a secret between them, and they hate being apart. So Elijah isn't exactly sure why he didn't realize his real feelings earlier.

Elijah and Nate are so close that some things don't make them feel as awkward as they probably should. The two boys still like to have sleep-overs, mostly camping together in the woods outside Nate's house. They still take care of a stray cat named Estella that wanders the neighborhood. And they still like to dance together.

The dancing was always somewhat of an afterthought; Elijah's been taking lessons since he was a kid, and once he decided to pass on the knowledge to his best friend as a device for either and both of them to pick up girls. And Elijah and Nate are so close that neither of them acknowledges the assumptions that others make about them.

Today, the two sit in Elijah's bedroom and talk as they normally talk.

"H…How's Daphne?"

"With Ben. Why do all the nice girls go for the jerks!?"

"You don't even know that she was nice. She has a real cute, innocent smile 'nd all, but that doesn't mean she's nice. And, if she likes Ben, it probably means she's a bitch."

"True," he says quietly, "Then why do I always fall for the bitches?"

"Because you like pretty things," Elijah says simply.

"You seem like you have something on your mind," Nate says to his best friend.

"Wh-what?!" and Elijah knows that once again, his best friend is right.

"You're not you today."

Elijah finally sighs, plugging in his iPod and picking the song, "Nocturne," a three-four time signature waltz.

"Dance with me?" Elijah asks quietly.

"Sure," Nate says, "But you'll have to lead today…" he laughs slightly, "Sorry I'm not the pretty girl you want."

Elijah takes a deep breath, doing as his friend says and leading the dance.

"That's, um… Something I wanted to talk to you about."

Nate looks on his friend in concern. "Lijah? You Ok?"

"Yeah," he mutters, even though he knows Nate can see right through him.

"Talk," Nate finally commands sternly.

But his brunette friend still hadn't exactly planned out this part of the speech yet. He thinks of how to say it without sounding weird or projecting the wrong idea.

"You know you can tell me anything," Nate promises, "Absolutely anything."

"Mmmhmm…" Elijah mutters, deep in thought.

"Is it something I said!?" Nate asks, looking worried.

Elijah finally makes himself nod, "Yeah."

"What…?" the dirty-blonde's ears turn red, "The dancing's weird for you?"

"No, that's not it. Nah, I'm fine with this."

"Ok, good…" Nate thinks back to what he said earlier.

"Does it have to do with Daphne at all?"

"A little, but not how you think."

"You leading? I guess I can-"

"After that."

"…" he thinks, "Sorry I'm not the pretty girl you wanted?" he asks. Elijah nods quietly. Nate's mind flies to the many girls in the school that he and Elijah had liked over the years. "Did someone reject you?"

"No. Nobody rejected me. Nate, the thing I'm trying to say is… You shouldn't really be sorry… Because… You're the one that I want." And as soon as the words escape his lips Elijah wants to take them back.

Nate finally absorbs the meaning of this conversation and freezes.

"Wh…What?" he asks, shocked more than anything.

"There… I said it. I've been thinking it for a while, but I finally said it."

Nate is left speechless by this.

"Please… Say something. Punch me in the face if you want, just please give me a reaction," Elijah begs.

Nate blinks, snapping back into it, and looking back at his best friend, blue eyes sad.

"Lijah, you're… The most courageous person I know, for sure. And you know that you will always be my best friend in the whole world. But…" it hurts Nate to say it, "I can't say I feel the same way…" he adds quickly, "But you know that we'll always be best friends. Brothers. And I know that there's someone out there for you that'll give you what you deserve. You're really brave. I already knew that but I want you to know. So, um… Nothing changes. Not in my book, anyways. We're still just as strong of friends as we were before. And we'll always be."

Elijah the smallest of smiles and wraps his arms around Nate.

"You're the greatest best friend ever. Legit."

Nate hugs him back and smiles slightly, "Nah, you're still the best."

Elijah actually laughs. Despite the empty void where his heart used to be, he laughs.

The two let go of each other and Nate flashes his friend a smile. Elijah keeps his eyes focused mostly on the ground.

Nate can still see the sadness and the tears that will most likely be shed very soon. And he knows that Elijah isn't going to be Ok.

"Catch you… Later?" Nate asks, even though it pains him to leave his best friend like this.

Elijah nods, "Sure," he chokes out.

Nate walks over to door and on his way out, Elijah says quietly, "And… Thanks for making it just a bit easier, Nate."

Nate smiles slightly, "Don't mention it."

Then he quietly slips out of the room and Elijah watches him go.

He sits on his bed. Elijah always knew this would happen. He was just so lovesick he always denied it.

Elijah buries his face in a pillow and now he knows it for sure: he will never be good enough. No matter what he does, he will never get Nate to love him. Or, at least, not like that.

And now that he doesn't have Nate to love, Elijah is confused. He isn't sure what he is anymore… In fact he doesn't feel in love with anyone else but Nate. He buries his head in a pillow and cries quietly, wishing he had kept his mouth shut and not said anything at all.


	5. REJECTION WEEK DAY TWO!

**Chapter 5: Spoiled**

Nate obsessively checks his reflection in his phone. He has to make sure he looks alright before talking to Daphne.

Finally, he sees her by her locker by herself. Nate smiles and walks over.

Intimidated by the pretty girl in front of them, Nate shyly looks at his feet and stutters, "H-h-hey…"

She turns around and scrunches her nose. "Oh. Ew."

"Excuse me!?" he says, snapping awake.

"They told me your name's Nate McIalwain," she says, sounding pissed.

"Y…Yeah, that's it."

"Well you are an IDIOT PIG!" she growls at him.

He watches her in shock, "What!?"

"Don't pretend! I've seen you!"

"Seem me what!?" he asks, concerned.

"Staring at me like I'm some rack of meat!

"What!? I've never-"

"Oh, please, you kept looking a me like a hungry lion. And I can see right through you."

"You must be mistaken…" he says.

She rolls her eyes, "You know, when I first came to Panem High, I was worried about how people would see me. But the last thing I expected is for someone to try so desperately to get into my pants."

"I don't want in your pants… I just wanted to say hi…"

"That's what they all say," she says with an exasperated sigh.

"I was never staring at you! Of course I took notice of you; you're the new girl… But after a glance to put a face to a name-"

"More like a name to a pair of boobs. I know how guys like you think, believe it or not. Find some other idiot to try on but this door is locked…" suddenly the curly-haired girl goes distant for a second and looks sadly into space.

Nate isn't sure whether to wake her up or to walk away, but she snaps out of it before he can say anything.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nate says to her, "I don't really care about what's in your pants, I just want to get to know you!"

"Then why'd you have to stare me down for a week before even saying as much as hi!?" she growls at him. "I know how this goes! You'll date me and then throw sex in my face, saying you're not a virgin but you wish you'd waited… Then you'll expect me to start devouring you and dump me when I don't! It's every high school stereotype rolled into one!"

Nate, upon hearing this, goes slightly distant himself, shaking his head to snap out of it.

"SEE!? YOU WERE DOING IT AGAIN!"

"I wasn't… WHAT!?"

"Get it in that hollow head of yours! I will NEVER date you! I am OFF-LIMITS! So stop trying to get in my pants!"

"I'm not even trying-" he tries desperately.

Daphne spots Ben coming towards them in the hallway and adds, "Besides, I'm already taken."

"You are!?" the brown-haired bully looks surprised as he approaches them.

Daphne knows it's a shot in the dark but she pulls Ben's arms around her waist and says, "Yeah. Starting now."

Ben's face flushes but soon he hugs her, "Yeah… She's taken by me now."

"You're…Taken…By…BEN!?" Nate has severe trouble rubbing his head around this.

"That's right, bitch!" Ben says, suddenly amused.

"But he's a total jackass!" Nate retorts, thinking of the trouble he causes.

"I think _you're _the total jackass," Daphne spits at him, "Because at least when I ran into Ben _he_ actually took time to get to know me for myself, not for my ass."

"I want to-"

"Hear that, bastard?!" Ben says with a smirk plastered on his face, "I'm the nice guy. You're the jerk. And for the first time in your life, McIalwain, you're not gonna get what you want!"

"Hey, you make it sound like I'm spoiled!"

"Compared to some of us… You are."

Ben smirks. Daphne rolls her eyes at Nate.

"Ben, can we get out of here? Let's ditch this loser."

"I love those words," the junior says, for the first time in his life feeling victorious. The couple walks away hand-in-hand.

Nate hangs his head down and walks out of the school sadly, not wanting to talk to anyone. Humiliated and horrified, he walks to his car and drives home in complete and utter silence.

When he gets there Nate unlocks the door and sits upstairs in his bedroom. He's still in shock that Daphne would even think to pick Ben over him.

But the realization finally hits him that he usually does get everything he wants.

Nate, though he works hard and constantly, gets everything he wants.

He runs track, plays lacrosse, is a percussion captain and the solo percussionist in the pit for the school musical, gets all A's and high B's in school, has a good number of close friends and avoids fights… And this makes Nate feel like a very spoiled child. And he doesn't like it at all.

He reminds himself that there are still times when he feels broken: not just at seeing Daphne with Ben, but also at breaking his best friend's heart and at the roughness of his family life. Nate reminds himself that he works hard to get what he wants and is never handed anything for free. He reminds himself that, to get where he is today, he's had to fight: not only with scheduling time for sports, band, and school: but also with spending time with friends, getting money, and trying to fix problems. Ben will never understand how much he's been through because Ben has never been motivated to do it himself. And, though Nate is afraid the fate will be the same for Daphne, he knows there's nothing he can do about it now. The only way he'll be able to get her to think of not hating him would just be to move on and forget that this day even happened.

He feels determined to prove to here that he doesn't need her, and that he is a lot better of a guy than Benjamin Hoffsteader will ever be.

But that doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt.


	6. REJECTION WEEK DAY THREE!

**Chapter 6: Heartless**

Yes, Santana is heartless.

Yes, everyone _knows _that Santana is heartless.

And yes, Elijah and Nate have chosen this as their favorite aspect of Santana's personality.

But what Santana hasn't told anyone is that she does have a personality and a heart. But Santana keeps her heart tightly locked up and won't let anyone even see that she has these emotions.

Most of the time, the dark-haired girl never even lets anyone think that she can smile or even cry.

But something about the way Jason Hollow looks at her just makes that lock melt.

Santana knows that she has admirers. Or at least, she did as of the end of last year. But she never really cared what anyone thought about her. Not until this year.

And even though Jason barely even looks her way, and barely acknowledges the two as friends, Santana still has some special soft spot for him that she can barely put a name to.

Nate hasn't exactly noticed this, but Elijah has. Every time they communicate with the sophomores, Santana's fellow drum-major finds himself extremely amused at her reactions.

Santana doesn't know what to do. She wants to talk to Jason but she's afraid that if she lets her emotions show too much, the people at school with render her a softie and even laugh at her.

She likes to be known as Santana the girl of stone, she likes people to be just a little scared of her, usually, because it keeps the bullies away. And though she may seem like a bit of a bully herself, Santana usually doesn't have bad intentions.

So she's faced with a predicament. Santana is confused and doesn't exactly know where to go from here.

"Hey Elijah…" she says shyly as the two help heft some boxes of supplies for the band.

"What?" Elijah says, still heartbroken, taking a box and groaning slightly.

Santana lets out a laugh, "God, Crowly, that's a little hilarious." She takes a box and laughs at how light it feels to her.

"What do you want?" he asks, carrying the crates through the hallway.

"So, um…" Santana is about to express her feelings to him. He is one of her best friends, after all. But Santana stops cold. She doesn't want him to have the pleasure of laughing at her. Not now. So she just shrugs and lies, "I forgot."

"Whatever," he says, placing the box down in the storage room.

Santana looks at the ground.

Elijah looks up at his friend miserably. As they walk back to the band room together, he glances over at her and whispers, "I think you should tell him."

Santana freezes for a second, surprised that her friend could get into her head like that.

But she knows he's right. She'll feel like a loser until she tells Jason that she might maybe have feelings for him.

* * *

"Hey Jason…" she says as the seniors meet up with their younger friends, "Could I talk to you?"

Jason and Locke exchange a look. Locke gives a small nod.

"Um… Yeah… Sure…"

She takes him over into the auditorium.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asks quietly, "If it's about the pocket watch-"

"No… No, it's not about Locke. It's more about you," she says quietly, already feeling herself softening.

"Me!? What do you want with me!?"

"Jason, this probably sounds really stupid to you… But I wanted to tell you now…"

"Tell me what!?" he says, blush crawling up his neck.

"Well… I…I…" she figured she would have trouble saying it out loud.

"I…I don't hate you."

"I don't hate you, too…?" he says it like a question, unsure of where this is going.

"There aren't a lot of people that I don't hate. In fact, you could very well be the first. As much as I hate to admit it… I think I might kind of like you."

He takes a second before responding. "Well I like you too, I guess…"

"You don't understand what I'm saying, do you?"

"Understand what?"

She blows the bangs out of her face, "Of course you don't."

But she finds his oblivious nature to be slightly endearing.

"Understand what?" he asks again.

"Jason, I like you. Like, not _like_ like, but… _Liiike_…" she doesn't know how to put it into words without using the l-word that rhymes with dove that Santana's been avoiding for 18 years.

But the look on Jason's face reads that he still doesn't compute what she's saying.

"Like, more than friends. Like… Hugs, kisses, chocolate and flowers like. Like… Like…"

On the inside, everything in Santana is screaming, _LOVE! _ But her brain overpowers her heart and she whispers, "Like… _Would you go to homecoming with me? _kind of like."

Now that the sophomore understands what she's saying, he freezes.

"Oh…"

She slowly looks up from the floor at his face. And Santana doesn't like what she sees.

Jason stammers awkwardly, "W-w-we-well… U-um… I…I… H-ha-had p-plans with Locke…" he spews out.

Santana hides the hurt deep within her. "Ah, yeah yeah, totally." She adds a laugh. "But would you want to do something sometime?" she asks, "Go out for some pizza, or something?" She tries one more time.

"W-well…" he groans, "I'm sorry. But I'm just too awkward for this… It's… It's not you, I swear… But I just… can't…" and he runs out of there and back to the others.

Santana looks after him and back at the floor.

She refuses to let herself cry… Not yet… She walks back to the others with a smile.

Santana grins and laughs like her heart isn't smashed. In fact, she seems to be more content than she was before.

"Don't worry about it, sophomore!" Santana cackles, "It was all just a joke!"

Jason breathes a sigh of relief. Everyone laughs, but he still thinks that something's not quite right with her.

Santana laughs the whole way home, even in the car. On her drive she smiles and laughs and tells herself how incredibly wimpy and dumb he looked before.

Because Santana never wants anyone to see her as broken as she is. And she doesn't feel safe in her car. She doesn't even feel safe in her own kitchen.

But the moment she slams the door of her bedroom shut and closes the blinds, the tears come streaming out of her eyes.


	7. REJECTION WEEK DAY FOUR!

**Chapter 7: I Will Make Sure to Keep My Distance**

"I'm just too awkward for this…"

Jason's words echo around Santana's head as she sits in her bedroom that night.

She paces around, trying to focus on anything but that night's events. She picks a rose from the vase on her vanity and pricks her finger, half-intentional.

_Don't take these words to heart, Santana. It's not you… It's him… _she tells herself.

But the words don't make her hurt any less.

She twirls the red flower around in her fingers and watches it spin.

"The only time," she whispers into it, tears pouring out of her dark eyes, "That will have been the first and only time I will EVER tell ANYONE how I feel. EVER!" she growls.

She was always a closed book to the world, protecting her personal thoughts and feeling from everyone. And now she vows that she will never tell another soul again. And, of course, she wouldn't tell Jason she cried. Not a prayer that she would.

In fact, Santana already told him that she laughed. That she was joking this whole time. That she was practicing for some mystery prince charming and that his rejecting her doesn't mean a thing in the world to her. Santana is a master at deceit.

She knows that she has to keep going.

The dark-haired, dark-eyed girl puts the rose back into the vase and sits on her windowsill, watching the trickle of blood pour down her pointer finger and feeling numb.

* * *

Nate sits upstairs in his bedroom and feels overwhelmingly misunderstood.

He cannot believe that Daphne would choose an underclassman over him. But the part that he has severe trouble understanding is her choosing Ben over him. He's alright. Nate knows this for a fact. He figures that if people want to surround him, then he must be doing something right. And everybody in Panem High knows that Ben is a total jerk.

But Nate doesn't blame Daphne.

He figures that she's smart enough that it won't be long before she starts to see right through the school bully. And as of now, he's willing to give forgiveness.

Nate wants to protect her. But he's not exactly sure how yet. Because if he comes within ten steps of her, she'll call 911.

The cold spot of Nate's heart has had enough with feeling as neglected as he feels. And Nate is truly afraid that the cold will overpower the warm and freeze his soul.

He can't let that happen. Because he likes Daphne and still wants to talk to her.

Sick and tired of thinking about it, Nate collapses on his bed and buries his face in a pillow, willing all thoughts of curly hair to escape his mind.

* * *

Elijah, still heartbroken, looks out his window to Nate's house adjacent to his.

Just the thought of Nate in love with anyone else makes him heartbroken and even sick.

He touches his pointer finger to the freezing condensation on the window and involuntarily shivers.

He never thought Nate could break his heart like this. But he doesn't want to talk to, listen to, or even see anyone else.

In fact, Elijah likes being so alone.

He shuts off the lights of his bedroom and sits in the cold and the dark, glad that he can feel so alone and miserable.

* * *

Linus sits in his crammed bedroom in the orphanage, lying on his back and numbly looking up at the ceiling.

The only part of his body that moves would be his eyes, scaling the textured ceiling sadly. He already knows that Elijah will never share his feelings.

"Linus!?" William, back from college for a few days, pounds on his brother's door.

Linus feels too broken and heartsick to respond.

"Li!" William says, annoyed, before bursting through the door anyways. Linus flips around on his bed, burying his head in his pillow.

"Come on! There are cookies in the kitchen and everyone is setting up a game of kick ball!"

"No thanks," Linus groans into a pillow, hiding his tears.

William heaves a sigh, "Li… What is wrong with you?"

"I'm fine," he mutters, knowing that his brother will never understand.

"Come on-"

"Go away and leave me. I'll be outside later," Linus growls.

William sighs again and stands up, "Fine. But I'll be back in 20 minutes."

He stomps out, annoyed, and Linus waits for ten long seconds after the door clicks shut to burst into tears. He sits up, slamming a chair against the door. He walks to the window to close the blinds but stops for a brief second to watch the kids outside. They run around, squealing and having fun.

"Bet none of those kids had their hearts torn out," Linus mutters bitterly. Then he buries his face again and cries some more.

* * *

Arrow sits, as well, looking out his little window with a blank expression. He knows he's been in love with Linus for a long while.

Maybe since they were both just little kids.

But now to know that his friend never felt the same way? Just plain awful.

"Aren't you coming?" his friend Hope asks quietly.

"No"

"Care to talk about-"

"No."

"But-"

"Not now, Hope!" he growls.

She nods and gently closes the door just as William tears in. Arrow swears under his breath.

"You too, huh?"

"What!?"

"You and Li are shut up crying like a couple-" an icy glare cuts him short.

"I suppose you're not going to fill me in, either."

"No," Arrow sighs.

"Whatever," William groans, "Just fuck it. If you want me to punch some sap's face in, you know I will."

Then he stomps out of there, too.

Arrow counts to five and throws a pillow at the wall, falling apart on the inside.

"Why can Linus see?!" he groans to himself, "What does this Elijah kid have that I don't!? All he's doing is breaking Linus's heart! And Li deserves so much better…"

He looks out his window to where he had tripped and accidentally gotten his first kiss with Hope. Arrow lets out a groan of frustration, longing to be out there with his blonde best friend, even though he knows it will never happen.

* * *

Santana flips a desk and sobs her lungs out. She's always wanted to get these emotions out, but she immediately wants them back in.

Then she plops on her bed, facing the truth that there's nothing she'll ever be able to do to win Jason's affection.

"I will make…Sure…To keep my distance… Say I love you when you're not listening…" Santana whispers sadly under her breath.

Elijah runs his fingers down the moisture on the window and whispers this promise to his best friend. He's not dumb enough to think there is anything he can do to get Nate to think of him like that.

Linus mutters it under his breath, hearing the children squealing happily and feeling even worse.

Arrow keeps his palm on the window and thinks rather than says, trying to get over his best friend but failing miserably.

They're all in bed by 11 at night, hopeless and heartsick.


	8. Alumni and the Homecoming Dance

_**A/N: So, I meant to do a chapter last week but had NO time. So here's Friday AND Saturday of Homecoming week… One week late. Yay for the late end of rejection week, right? Also, now is a good time to mention that this story is somewhat of a sequel to my story called Hunger Games High School, so some of the alumni coming back are the seniors from that story. **_

**Chapter 8: Alumni**

Prim wakes up to Katniss hanging over her bed.

"Primmy!" Katniss giggles, just glad to be in an actual room as opposed to a college dorm.

"Katniss!" Prim squeals, sitting up and hugging her sister, "You're back!"

"Yeah I am!" she says with a smile.

Prim grins, "I missed you Katniss."

"I missed you, too," the college freshman whispers with a kiss on her cheek.

"Having fun at college?" Prim asks.

Katniss grins, "Sure am. But I have to admit that I do miss my little duck."

"Your little duck missed you back," Prim says with a slight giggle.

"Katniss! You and Prim want some breakfast!?" Mrs. Everdeen calls.

"YES!" the hungry college student jumps out of bed and runs to the kitchen.

Mr. Everdeen laughs, "Hold it Speed Racer. Did you wake up Prim?"

"Yes Daddy!" Katniss says, hungrily eyeing a biscuit.

He laughs, "Eat as much as you want," Mrs. Everdeen says. Katniss's mouth is already full.

Prim walks down to the kitchen and grabs an apple, amused at her sister's hungry stuffing of the mouth.

"You would think you haven't been fed in months," she remarks.

"Yeah, yeah," Katniss says, not caring what her sister thinks.

Prim smiles, eating her food.

"You're coming to the game tonight, right?" Prim asks, just to be sure.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Gale's coming, too."

"What ever happened there? With you and Peeta?"

"We, um…" Katniss looks around and says quietly, "Called it quits… For college…"

"Oh," Prim says with a nod, "Same happened to Cato and Clove. And Athena and Theo, too."

"I like both of those couples," she confesses.

"But you also know how hard college is. Especially trying to date."

"Know it too well," Katniss whispers.

"Well that sucks," Prim says, and gives her sister the opportunity to change the subject.

"Well I think that I'm the favorite of the roomates," Katniss says.

"You think?" her Dad asks.

Katniss nods, "I mean, we all get along, but I think Willow prefers me to Pit and Pit prefers me to Willow. So I'm the favorite."

"That's good," Prim says, "You always were a pretty good roommate."

"You should know," Katniss teases.

Prim smiles.

* * *

Cato is nervous about talking to Clove. He isn't sure what he wants to say or do… It's a little hard to resist those pretty eyes of hers, or her beautiful smile, or her punch that hurts like the son of a bitch but still makes him laugh every time.

But the two have decided to go back to being best friends. And for this to work, neither one can fall for the other.

Cato shows up to Clove's house that night in a hoody and jeans. When Clove sees him there, she thinks he looks even cuter than when he left for college.

"Hi," Cato says quietly.

"Hey," Clove says, "How is it?"

"It's alright," Cato says, "I've made some new friends while I was there."

"That's good!" Athena appears behind her step-sister with pain on her cheeks.

"Hi Athena," Cato says, glad to see a friend there.

"Hi Pretty Boy," Athena teases.

"Ready to go?" Clove asks.

"Sure!" Athena says enthusiastically.

They all get into Cato's dad's old pickup truck to drive to the stadium.

* * *

The band hustles and bustles about, trying to tend to the needs of 50 alumni that came back to play with them for the pregame.

Mason strolls into the auditorium with his saxophone case and grins. He loves it here.

He walks casually to his old section, the tenor saxophones, blending in because he wore his band shirt.

Soon all of the underclassmen hug their alumni. Last year he didn't talk to them a lot because he was a drum major, but he loves to relive his junior year. But there's one adopted child of his that Mason doesn't see.

"Where's Elijah?" he asks, looking around, just as the blue-eyed boy blows a whistle.

"Warmups!" he says, directing the students' attention to the back of the room where an instructor is waiting for them.

Mason grins as his old freshman walks back down the aisle and catches him by the arm.

Elijah is startled but looks relieved to see his old friend there.

Elijah wraps his arms around Mason and laughs, "Mase!"

"Lijah! You never told me you were a drum major!"

Elijah laughs, "Shoulda mentioned…" he says with a grin.

"I am so proud of you!"

"I would've never tried out had it not been for you! Seriously."

Mason smiles, "Congrats. Good luck, buddy!" before running off to join the other alumni.

Elijah grins proudly, "See ya later."

* * *

Mason's girlfriend Nathalia, also Theo's twin sister, cheers in the stands as the band marches around. She sees Mason and squeals louder.

Rue hears the screaming and immediately recognizes it, running to her old senior friend and throwing her arms around her.

Nathalia grins, "RUE!" she squeezes the air out of her old freshman in a tight hug.

Theo smiles as Skeeter soon comes hopping down the steps with her, greeting his freshman with a hug.

"I missed you, Theo!"

"I missed you, too," Theo says with a smile.

"Glee club isn't the same without you!"

"I'm sure it's not," Theo teases.

Skeeter laughs.

Theo gets serious suddenly, "How's Athena? I still really feel bad about leaving her, but…"

"She's doing alright. She'll live."

Theo breathes a sigh of relief, "Good."

Then they pay attention to the announcements of returning alumni.

* * *

Katniss, Rory, Gale and Madge sit in the stands together and cheer. Katniss is so happy to be back with her friends and Madge especially is glad to have her best friend back.

Posy sits with Kelley and Edward again, like last week. Theo and Nathalia are anxious to talk to them, as well.

Katniss is the first to spot Prim marching in the block, Rory soon after, then Madge, but the girls and boyfriend have to point her out to Gale.

Then the football game starts and everyone cheers.

Marvel and Vick are both equally determined to play well, and the Panem Mutts easily overpower their opponents once again with a score of 58 to 3.

* * *

Saturday marks the homecoming dance.

Ben and Daphne meet up at the orphanage and go out to the park instead of to the dance.

Rue takes Skeeter and invites Tanner but the junior stays behind, declining their offer to spend time with his cousin Francesca before she goes back to college.

Katniss went back that morning, so Prim and Rory go together, bringing along Madge and Vick as friends.

Linus and Arrow go as friends with some of the other orphans. Arrow still hasn't made his feelings vocal but doesn't want to after seeing how longingly his friend looks over at Elijah.

He and Nate hang out together as if nothing had happened between them, confusing Linus as to how the turnout was.

Jason and Locke blow off the dance, and Santana sits at home alone and sulks.

Suddenly, she gets a text from the man himself: Jason.

_Hey…Are you Ok?_

She looks at the words. _He cares…. HE CARES! _She smiles as she texts back in a casual-sounding manner, _Yeah. Fine. But thanks. : )_

She doesn't get a response after that.

Eventually Elijah wanders from the dance floor to the band storage room, where the drum majors had started a project of carrying boxes to transfer them to the band room. The teacher is up managing the sound systems for the dance but Elijah convinced him to leave the room open if he wanted to go and help. Linus sees him wander and takes off to follow him. He catches the brunette as he's setting up his iPod and muttering about how he wishes his sister didn't make him come to dance at all.

"Hi…" Linus greets as a quiet waltz plays in the background.

Elijah stands up and turns around to face him. "Hey," he greets.

They both quiet and Elijah closes his eyes, listening to the music. "Ah, ¾ time," he says dreamily, "Doesn't it just make you wanna dance?"

"Um…" he thinks, "Sure, maybe…"

Elijah holds out a hand to his friend. "C'mon. I'll teach you how to waltz," he whispers, a slight smile on his face.

"Really!?" Linus asks, heart leaping.

"Unless it's too weird…" Elijah says, "But I need a partner and you're the only one here."

"Ok, sure," he tries not to sound enthusiastic.

"I'll lead," Elijah whispers. His friend nods.

Elijah and Linus dance around for a little while without a word, and he feeling of his crush so close to him makes Linus's heart beat so fast he almost has trouble breathing.

Finally, he gathers up the courage and asks a question.

"How'd it go with Nate?" Linus isn't exactly sure what he wants the answer to be.

"It didn't," Elijah says quietly.

"Oh…" Linus says, suddenly feeling bad at seeing his friend so upset, "I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Eh, don't be," Elijah says numbly, "I guess I'm a little over it now."

"But I am, anyways," Linus insists.

"But you shouldn't be…"

"But I am!"

Elijah sighs, "Fine. Now follow me."

The two partners do a spin, Elijah herding Linus around by holding him slightly closer.

"So…" Linus starts, gathering more courage, "What are you thinking your sexuality is now? Gay… Straight… Bi…?"

"Right now? I'm feeling… I'm just not in love with anyone. I'm like… No-sexual."

This news hurts Linus, but he doesn't give up. "Oh… But, what would you say if…" he trails off.

"If…?" the brunette asks.

The blonde swallows hard, "If a boy were to say he had feelings for you."

Humiliated, he focuses more on his feet than on the reaction of his partner.

"I mean… I wouldn't say no off the bat, I guess, but… Uh…" Elijah, frustrated because of not knowing these things for himself, sighs, "I guess it depends on who. But in case you haven't noticed, not a lot of people openly express their liking of me. Where would I even think to look for a nice guy who wouldn't be afraid of being… With me… That isn't a freak or a creep?"

Linus, after a pause, swallows his pride and makes himself look into those blue eyes that he wishes could be his to look at as long as he wanted to.

"You wouldn't have to look far," he whispers weakly, looking back down at his feet.

"Because there's one right in front of your face."

* * *

There's a pause. A long pause.

A long and quiet pause.

Linus looks up and the look of shock on Elijah's face is evident.

He blinks tears out of his eyes and retreats. As he's running out the door he adds, "Elijah, I'm so sorry!"

Elijah stands there, frozen. He has no idea what to make of this. He runs back to the cafeteria and practically tackles his best friend.

"Nate!"

Upon being tackled, Nate groans before flashing his best friend a bright smile, "There you are!"

"Nate…" Elijah says, taking his best friend by the shoulders and shaking him, "Linus just told me he loves me!"

Nate's eyes light up and his grin widens, "That's great!" then his smile fades into a slight frown, "D…Do you love Linus back?"

Elijah, who's mind is swirling with thoughts and questions, thinks about this.

"Y…Yeah…. I think… I think that I do…"

Nate goes back to grinning again, "Elijah! This is great!"

"Nate, I don't know if I can do it!"

"Do what?" he asks, looking concerned.

"I've been wrestling with my sexuality for a while… But… I haven't actually told anyone but you. What's my Dad gonna do? What are my friends gonna say? I'm going to have to deal with so much crap from everyone, and… I don't think I can take it, Nate! I'll let them all get to me! Plus… Linus has known he's liked guys for… I guess for a while. I'm just figuring it out now! What if I'm not good enough!? What if I can't keep up!? What if-"

Nate smacks him across the face, "Lijah!"

His friend's eyes refocus and he snaps back into it, "What!?"

"Where do I begin!?" Nate asks. "First of all, you think _we_ would leave you? We talk to Jessie all the time, and you're just as special as she is. We're your best friends! You think your dad's going to be one of those awful excuses for a parent that kicks you out? _Your _dad? He loves you too much for that. He's proud of you for you. And, even if everyone else leaves, _which they won't, _you will ALWAYS have me. I mean, come on. We've been best friends since either of us could talk, probably even before! And I was never your friend solely because you liked girls or guys… I never cared about that, and I never will. But you know what I do care about?"

Elijah asks quietly, "What do you care about?"

Nate takes Elijah by the shoulders now, "I care that there's a great guy in the hall who loves you, and you love him back! And you're going to break his heart because you're _scared? _That doesn't sound like the Elijah Crowly I know! He's fearless… You're fearless!"

Elijah starts to smile, "I am scared of heights. But, yeah, I suppose I am kind of fearless."

"Exactly! So stop talking to me and go get your man!" Nate gives him a shove towards the door and Elijah stumbles. He mouths a quick, "Thanks," before running out the doors and down the hall to where Linus is sitting against the wall with his head buried in his knees.

"Hey…" the brunette greets quietly, sitting by his blonde friend.

Linus looks up, choking on tears. His stomach flops upon seeing the blue eyes to greet him.

"Elijah, please don't be mad… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I made it weird and I put you on the spot… I'm so sorry."

"Don't be."

"But I am!"

"But you shouldn't be!"

"But I AM!" he says, "Why the hell shouldn't I be!? I made it and totally awkward, and that was wrong of me to do."

"Because somehow I don't think you'll have a lot of trouble finding your dream guy."

Linus makes a slight snorting noise, "Yeah, sure. Where am I going to find that someone? Where out there is a guy who's cute, funny, athletic, smart, musical, popular, friendly, kind, gay, and willing to be seen with some abandoned orphan kid who doesn't even remember his parents!?"

"I don't think you'll have to look far," Elijah says, leaning against the wall across from his friend. Linus looks up. Elijah smiles, looking into the brown eyes that he's come to find indescribable comfort in, "Because… There's one right in front of your face."

Linus looks up and sees the genuinely nervous expression on Elijah's face. Then he jumps up and presses his lips to Elijah's for just a second before hugging him tightly. And Elijah hugs his new boyfriend tightly and can't wipe the grin off his face.


	9. Redemption

_**GUYS GUYS GUYS HOLY FRICK THIS SERIES'S FIRST BIRTHDAY IS TODAY! SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY! **_

**Chapter 9: Redemption **

"Madge!" Vick says upon seeing the blonde girl walking to class. She keeps walking, not bothering to look back over at him.

"Maaaddddddgggeee…" Vick tries again, catching up to her.

"What?" she asks.

"Come on, Madge. I hate you being so mad at me!"

"You think I like being upset with you!?" she swivels on her foot to face him.

"You don't!?"

"Of course not," she scowls, "But you know what else!?"

"Huh?"

"I don't like people cheating on me!"

He sighs, "I was all… All messed up… Alright!?"

She rolls her eyes, "Of course you were."

"You ask Rory, I've shaped up since then!"

"Oh yeah?" she asks sassily.

He pulls out a paper from his folder and hands it to her.

"This is an English test!" she groans.

"Only perfect paper in the class," Vick says with a hint at a smile.

"You expect me to believe that?!"

"Yeah. Because it's true."

"Sure, yeah right. Who'd you cheat off of?"

"Can I confess something to you? Honestly?"

"What?" she snarls.

"I'm meeting after school with a tutor. Alright? I said it. Because this year I have to take the SATs and I have to apply for colleges. And, with my record, I'm gonna have to do some miracles to get into a good school. And don't think football's getting me anywhere, because Marvel's just as good as I am and he's a year younger than I am."

"But Marvel's really exceptional," Madge says quietly, "You know he's good."

"Yeah, but I'm no Cato."

Madge, as much as she doesn't want to give comfort to her ex, puts a hand on his shoulder.

Vick looks up.

"Fine," she finally says, "I believe you. But this doesn't mean there aren't scars."

Then she speeds up and walks into her classroom.

* * *

Skeeter thought he was Ok. He really did.

But it's soon evident that he's not. Preparing for the days ahead makes him feel sick all over.

Around this time last year, both of his parents were still alive. He was enjoying his freshman year, getting to know his senior Theo, crushing on his best friend Rue from afar… Seems so far away now, he supposes, but the memories are still fresh in his brain.

His drunken father rampaging the house and shooting both his mother and himself… And Skeeter knows that whatever else were to happen, Ben will never see Skeeter for anything that Skeeter is. He looks a good deal like his father, with the same curly black hair and electric blue eyes. But somehow Skeeter still feels responsible for his mothers' death. Mostly because of his cousin, who still calls him by his father's last name.

Skeeter walks home from school alone after glee club, and this Thursday is no different. But he regrets walking through the city because soon he hears the raspy voice of his cousin.

"Hey Rothman!" Ben says with a smirk.

"I thought you got a girlfriend," Skeeter says with an eye-roll.

"I did," Ben says, "And she's delightful. But you know what's _not_ delightful?"

Skeeter sighs, "What?"

"A Rothman, of course. What did you think I was gonna say, a fucking dandelion!?"

"Your words may've hurt me last year. But you will _never _hurt me this year."

Ben shoves his cousin against the wall with a smug smirk, "Well I guess we'll just have to see about that, won't we?" he whispers. "What's that saying again? Sticks and stones will break a Rothman's bones, but a gun will murder my Aunt…? Yeah, I think that's it."

"I'm not a Rothman," Skeeter says, still believing it.

"Are you sure about that, Rothman? Are you _positive _about that, Rothman?"

"Yeah I'm positive about it!"

"Oh yeah, because you're a sugary-soft Odair now, aren't you!? Well you know, there's a reason you don't belong in that house. There's a reason that nobody's surprised to find out you're an orphan."

Skeeter fights his cousin but Ben kicks his shin: hard: and he stops fighting.

"It's because you're just the kind of kid that would _be _orphaned. _You're _the kind of kid that would sit there and watch both your parents die and not do a single thing but cry like a little baby."

Tears well up in Skeeter's eyes but he's determined not to shed them.

Ben laughs at this; an evil cackle that sends chills up Skeeter's spine.

"Yes, I'll bet you're the one that let your Dad in when he knocked. I'll bet you were the one that caused it all."

"T-t-t… That… That's not true…" Skeeter stammers weakly.

Ben laughs again, reaching into his pocket. "Lemme show you a little something," the junior whispers, olive green eyes looking violent.

Skeeter cringes as Ben pulls out a small silver object. Skeeter soon recognizes it to be some kind of pocketwatch.

"Like it? Got a pretty sweet deal on it. And you know what you use these babies for?"

"Telling the time, you idiot," Skeeter sneers, clenching his teeth and fighting again.

Ben casually holds him against the wall with a low chuckle. "True, Rothman. I'll say, you and your comebacks can sure be a nip at my ass sometimes."

"I sure as hell hope they are!" Skeeter growls.

Ben laughs, "But amusing for sure. No, they're more often used for hypnotizing dirty little morons. And I was looking for Cooper but didn't see 'im… But you'll do just fine."

"Wonderful," Skeeter mutters.

"Sorry, is someone gonna be late for his bedtime?!" Ben asks.

Skeeter rolls his eyes, "No. What is Daphne gonna say when I tell her about this!?"

The junior glares, growling in his cousin's ear, "You won't. And that's a _threat." _

Skeeter swallows hard. Ben moves his face away from Skeeter's ear.

When he holds up the watch up close to Skeeter's face, the sophomore can finally see the intricate swirls and slight blue lacquer-work in the center. Skeeter admires the precise decoration of the watch for a second as Ben teasingly waves it in front of his face. "Rothman, Rothman, take your gun, away from this town, run run run…" Skeeter kicks his cousin's thigh and Ben bursts into laughter.

"You're an awful excuse for a Rothman, aren't you!? You're not a fighter in the least! Now you can add your Satanic father to the list of dead people you're a disgrace to! But your wonderful mother will _always _be at the very TOP of that list!" he laughs, "And why limit it to dead people!? Because you really think your new parents love you!? You're a waste of food and space to them! You're a fucking waste of our precious oxygen, Rothman."

Just as he's saying this, Daphne starts on her way home from counseling. Upon recognizing the voice of her boyfriend, she stops to listen.

"Your father was an awful person. Awful!  And you're no better than he is!"

"I'm **not **a Rothman!" Skeeter protests.

"Oh really? Because you sure do look like one. And your father will ALWAYS be the one who took lives. _Lives, _Rothman! And you don't even seem to care!"

"You think I don't care!? Of course I care! I'm not my Dad, and I never will be, so stop pestering me about it!"

Ben pulls back a fist, "You let her die, Rothman. You let him kill her. You will never be a Hoffsteader, no matter how much you claim the last name. You will always be a no-good Rothman!"

Daphne is then greeted with memories flashing before her eyes. Dark memories of her past, awful memories that she thought were gone the moment her step-father was dead. But Daphne knows that they'll never go away. Tears dot her eyes as she realizes that maybe Nate was right and she was wrong. Daphne can't stand to think about it. Bombarded with memories of her past, Daphne speed-walks back to the orphanage and collapses, sobbing.

Ben hears this and his olive green eyes go wide. His grip on Skeeter loosens so drastically that the sophomore is able to slip out without any exertion.

"Gig's up, Benjamin. And you're in a hell of a lot of shit now," Skeeter says, now hinting at a chuckle himself. He walks away from his shocked cousin, figuring that he'll be looking for another bitch tomorrow morning.

But Ben is horrified. He slumps down against the wall, buries his head in his knees, and sobs.

* * *

"God, I feel sick," Elijah groans.

"Don't worry about it," Linus whispers, "This'll go just fine, I promise."

"I don't know…" Elijah says hesitantly. He stands on his doorstep and shakily puts the key in the lock of his front door.

"Don't worry, Lij. I'm here, and you know Nate's on call. Arrow'll come, too, if we need him. But don't worry, it'll all be just fine, I promise."

Elijah nods, slowly turning the key and pulling it out again.

Linus gives his boyfriend's hand a reassuring squeeze and flashes him a smile.

The blue-eyed boy takes a deep breath before walking inside. He holds his boyfriend's hand behind their backs.

Elijah's dad, a very tall and very strong man, looks up from the newspaper he's reading.

"Hey, buddy." Upon seeing an unfamiliar face, Elijah's dad raises an eyebrow. "Who's your friend?"

Elijah starts to break down. Linus gives his hand a squeeze and introduces himself, "Linus Shatern. I'm an orphan."

He nods, folding his reading and flashing Linus a warm smile, "I'm Elijah's dad. You can call me Mr. Crowly. Elijah's Mom…" he trails off slightly.

"I-I told him about it, Dad," Elijah stammers slightly.

"Where's Nate?" Mr. Crowly asks, knowing that the two usually walk home from school together every day.

"He's, uh…"

"He's at his place. He wanted to meet up with us later," Linus explains for him.

Mr. Crowly looks slightly amused, "How did Nate do with his girl?" he asks. Elijah takes a seat on the couch and drags Linus down with him.

"Not well," Elijah says, trying not to sound as nervous as he is. "She's with, uh, Ben."

His father nods. "How about you?" he asks, eyes twinkling slightly, "Surely a strong, musical, talented young man like you would have many admirers."

Elijah's heart races. Linus nods, "He would. You should see some of the kids at school!"

"And you, Linus? You seem like a very nice young man as well."

"Actually, I'm not really looking for girls," Linus confesses.

Mr. Crowly raises an eyebrow, "Oh?"

Linus nods, "Yeah. But… I actually do have someone. He's wonderful. And I'm ready to fight for him any day."

Elijah looks at the floor.

The blonde boy continues, "He's pretty great. Nice, smart, talented…"

Now Mr. Crowly looks on both of them with much amusement.

"You feeling alright, buddy?" he asks his son, voice laced with laughter.

"I'm fine," Elijah mutters, "Just tired."

Linus starts to feel the lightness of the situation, "He's really great. And he has the most _beautiful _eyes."

Elijah looks up. Linus smiles.

"I don't think I've ever seen a pair of eyes quite that wonderful. And I'm not exactly sure if I've ever even seen anything that blue before… Anywhere."

A wave of emotion hits the brunette and he rubs his temples to prevent tears.

His father smiles sadly.

"He told me once that he got them from his mother," Linus says quietly.

Mr. Crowly walks over, putting his newspaper on the floor and kneeling in front of the two boys.

"You think he'll come out to his parents?" he asks.

"Maybe," Linus says. Both glance at Elijah.

The brunette slowly looks up at the two and wipes his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Hey Dad…" Elijah finally chokes out, "Linus is my boyfriend."

Mr. Crowly laughs, wrapping his arms around his son and hugging him tightly, "No need to get so worked up about it!" he says with a laugh.

"I…I know…" Elijah stammers, hugging his Dad.

"Even if Linus had to wrench it out of you, I'm still proud of you."

"Th…thanks…" he says quietly.

Mr. Crowly lets go of Elijah and smiles at Linus, holding out a hand. Linus shakes it.

"You seem very responsible. You take care of him."

"I will," Linus promises with a smile.

"Come on," he says, "I made snacks."

Both boys grin and get up to eat.

* * *

That night, Santana walks through the city. She needs a gift for her father's birthday and doesn't even know where to start.

She heads to the only place she knows to buy good items for cheap: a trailer in the dirt by the park. A lot of drug sales go on around there, but Santana knows exactly who to talk to if she wants to get good items.

"Villanueva," he greets. The only thing she can see of him is a pair of olive green eyes.

"I need a gift. For my Dad. Because God knows he'll murder us if we don't get him a gift for his birthday."

"Looked at the right place. Take a look 't this baby!" he dangles a very pretty object in front of Santana's eyes.

"I'll charge you 100 for it," Ben says, "Maybe if you give me some eyes, I'll cut the price."

"I don't give eyes," Santana says, "I've got a hundred, though."

"Fucking awesome," Ben says.

Santana puts the money in his hands and Ben flips through the money, counting it delicately. Then he puts the watch in her hands. "Take good care of that. Your dad will love it."


	10. Werewolves in… uh, Panem…

_**A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN WEEK! The following set of chapters is going to be set in an AU where the characters are all monsters! The first couple of days or so will consist of flashbacks from past years, told from the perspective of the characters. So, without further ado…**_

**Chapter 10: Werewolves in… uh, Panem…**

_~Thursday: Theo Campbell~_

I was but a tiny freshman when I was bitten… And it happened a little like this…

I spent my whole school day with my best friend Mason. Obviously, the two of us together reeked of human in a school full of demons. I'll never forget the insane, demented, hungry looks that were given to us that day.

Everyone wanted human.

My twin Nathalia went into witchcraft, while Mason and I went into wizardry together. And we would've stuck with it… If neither of us had gotten bit.

So we stuck together until lunch, when he got bit by his girlfriend's (now his ex's) best friend, a sophomore named Gale.

But that's another story.

It was after seventh period. I was out to walk home when I was dragged into a storage closet violently.

For a second, I saw nothing but black.

Then, I saw a pair of luminescent pale green eyes: for just a second: before they flashed bright red and stayed there.

I already knew who it was. His name is Matt Brown. He has an obnoxious amount of little siblings, and he's kind of a genius. That was all I knew about the guy. He was a junior at the time, and tall and strong. But I was a tiny freshman… So it was already a losing battle from the start.

Anyways, I heard a quiet growling.

"Freshman…" a smiling voice said through clenched teeth.

I looked around, cowering.

The light clicked on as he growled, "You're my prey now."

I whimpered, "P…Pr…PREY!?"

"It's Halloween, son. And it'd be a severe injustice if you didn't get… The full experience…"

He hissed, grinning to reveal teeth that were getting sharper and sharper with each second.

"You know what I am, don't you? You know what you're going to become, don't you?"

I shook my head, "N…No!" I tried to move towards the door. He growled, "It's called a werewolf!"

I fumbled with the handle before finally opening the door and running away from there.

I ran and ran and ran, out of the school and to the city.

It's weird how fast the full moon takes the sky, even in the daytime…

That was the biggest mistake I made.

The transforming boy gets me trapped against the wall, blonde hair beginning to cover his entire body, claws and teeth growing in rapidly, eyes glowing.

"Welcome to the pack, Theo Campbell…" he growled, before plunging his teeth into my shoulder.

The pain was unbearable. I felt my whole body going limp already.

Matt growled and ripped the skin clean off my other shoulder as well. I slumped down to the ground, just willing myself to die already.

He ran his sharp claws down my torso before I heard a loud howling and he ran back to rejoin his pack.

* * *

I woke up to a liquid being poured down my throat.

And blech, it tasted GROSS.

My eyes flew open faster than ever before and something completely changed within me. Immediately, I felt empowered, stronger, faster… And bloodthirsty.

I swatted the glass away from my lips violently.

I saw my sister Nathalia and a girl from my grade named Finch looking down in the cauldron of another girl. She provided a low chuckle before wiggling her fingers. Everything disappeared.

"There you are," she said, "How're you feeling?"

I groaned, not wanting to admit that I felt much better.

"Theo!" Nathalia hugged me and smiled, "You're an official monster now!"

"I am!?"

"You are," the oldest witch, whose name I thought is Katriena or something, said.

Nathalia kissed my cheek, "Come on! Let's go outside so I can have my own personal brother-dog!"

She was right.

The second I stepped outside, I felt an obnoxious amount of discomfort. Slightly curly brown hair pushed through my skin, my nails expanded to enormous claws, fangs grew out by pushing through my gums… And then I started to howl.

The more I saw the moon in the sky, the more I wanted to howl.

The more I howled, the more I wanted to see the full moon.

Nathalia petted my head with a giggle, but I snapped at her. Then I saw Mason running to catch up to the pack. I gave my sister a bark goodbye and then ran out to join him.

_**A/N: Also, by the way, Matt Brown belongs to Wetstar! At Second Glance... READ IT.**_


	11. Howl to the Moon, Mason!

**Chapter 11: Howl to the Moon, Mason!**

_~Friday: Mason Skillings~_

Halloween, my freshman year.

I spent it with Theo, mostly.

Together, we decided on wizardry: neither of us wanted to get bit by anything, of course.

I ate lunch with my girlfriend (now my ex) Katniss and her best friend Gale.

Katniss was (and is) a ghost, and Gale was (and is) a werewolf…

Yeah, I would know.

"Are you going Trick-or-Treating, Mase?" Katniss asked me.

I just laughed. "Oh, no. Probably just the Halloween Dance… 'S all…"

"Aw, that's sad," Katniss said, taking a bite of the mystery meat sandwich that was provided for lunch.

It was halfway through the period and I still didn't want to eat it. It was brown, sure, combined with red spots where it wasn't cooked and green spots all over. I'm still not sure how the hell someone could stand to feed something like that to children. Well, maybe children isn't exactly the right word.

Monsters, for sure. With glowing red eyes and fangs and hair in weird places and even crooked smiles.

Panem has every kind of thing that goes bump in the night. Wizards and witches, vampires, spiders and cats, zombies, and even the special ones: fortune tellers, gypsies, scarecrows… There's literally everything you could think of.

Anyways, I just stared at that rancid meat thing in my hands.

"Is this safe?" I asked. Because I really really wasn't sure.

"Yeah, it's fine," Gale said. Then he twitched slightly.

"Are…Are you Ok?" I asked warily. Even as I tiny, naïve freshman, I knew that a twitching werewolf is a bad sign.

"I-I'm alright," Gale said, looking up at me.

His red eyes seemed to flicker. And I should've known that _that's_ a bad sign, too.

Anyways, I put the mystery meat sandwich to my lips and tried not to look down at it.

Suddenly, faster than a lightning bolt, Gale leaped across the and tackled me, sending Katniss's and my trays to the ground with a huge clatter.

The whole cafeteria went silent, leaving the trays to make all the noise they please until the clatters decrescendoed to nothingness.

As for me, I hit the tile floor hard and hit my head on the table across from ours.

Black spots floated across my vision as the whole cafeteria exploded into chaos at once.

When I looked up at Gale, his whole body looked… Larger… Stronger… and fuzzier…

His teeth were sharp.

His eyes now glowed bright red, brighter than the flicker I had seen before.

Drool poured out of his mouth as he looked down at the freshman helplessly in his grasp.

My glasses were long-since cracked, and by then Gale through my left eye was slashed by across the glass.

The crowd erupted into chanting. "Gale! Gale! Gale! Gale! Gale!"

They… They were cheering for him.

I heard Katniss's enthusiastic shout for her best friend as opposed to her boyfriend, "YEAH GALE!"

And that was a little unsettling to me.

Suddenly, I heard a hideously loud shrieking and squeaking noise. Nathalia pushed through the crowd of kids, shrieking, "MASON!"

But her squeaky cries were soon covered by the cheering crowd of teenage monsters.

Then, I heard some of the werewolves… Now that I look back on it, I think it was Gale's pack-mates. Anyways, they barked like crazy dogs. Some of them howled loudly. The noises of the pack scared me to no end… The noises by now made my head pound as I prepared to black out.

Gale growled and ran his claws down my face forcefully. The blow knocked my glasses clean off and they hit the floor with a smash.

And the crowd erupted into cheering that was even louder than the cheering before. But even over the wild masses, I heard Nathalia's cries.

I didn't know it back then, but it was really all out of love. And I'm glad, because Nathalia's a great girlfriend. (But she is such a meddling witch around Halloween. Literally.)

Anyways, I closed my eyes, trying not to focus on the slow trickle of blood down my face and hitting my neck. But that's, uh, a little hard.

I finally came to terms with it, telling myself that _I am going to black out. _

A sharp pain strikes my torso as Gale bites, and the skin is ripped right off of it.

Then again, I don't have a lot of time to think about it before the world fades to black and I pass out.


	12. Barking with an Irish Accent

**Chapter 12: Barking with an Irish Accent**

_~Saturday: Edward O'Callaghan~_

I didn't know Theo and Mason came back from college for Halloween. I love the two guys, I rilly do, but when I see 'em on the mornin' of Halloween, somethin's off.

They're walkin' outside tagether, with a blonde guy 'nd a hark-'aired guy as Kelley 'nd I're gettin' ready fer school.

Marvel's out the door first, Kelley secon', I last.

Suddenly I'm surrounded by four huge figures.

Four pair o' glowin' red eyes flicker in the dark of th' mornin'.

Fer some reason, I'm not 's scared 's I should be.

'N face, I feel more empowered than anythin'.

Ready to fight.

Fight fer m' skin, fer m' life… Fer whatever I have to.

The low growlin' of the pack is slightly unnerving.

Halloween back home wasn't much. Trick 'o treatin' 'nd all that, sure, but not much else.

Here, though… T's very… Real.

Those four figures lurk around me 'nd the growl menacin'ly. Terrifyin'.

By now 'm practically shittin' my pants 'cause they're comin' in closer 'nd closer.

Th' red eyes 're the only things I see of 'em, until I feel a tuft o' fur rub against my arm.

Th' fur suddenly rubs 'gainst m' legs. Th' growlin' gets louder 'ntil it's right next ta' my ear.

Then the guy bites.

He rips off th' side of m' face and I immediately fall ta' my knees 's the four of them pounce on me and attack.

* * *

Th' thing my eyes snap open ta' is Marvel, Kelley, 'nd Poppy standing 'round th' cauldron of Santana. Plus, there's somethin' disgustin' pourin' in m' mouth. I make a face, 'nd Santana pulls the glass away fr'm m' lips.

"Mornin', shag," Santana says with a smile.

"'Idward! Yer' a werewolf!" Kelley says.

"Yeah!" Marvel says with a laugh.

I smile slightly. Then I feel m' teeth…. Sh'rp 'nd jagged. Not like n'rmal teeth, fer sure.

M' hair is shaggier th'n usual, which's already shaggy on it's own.

I stand up. Shit, I even feel stronger.

This is gonna rock, I c'n already t'll!

I j'mp up and gr'n, showin' off m' sh'rp teeth ta all of 'em.

Kelley laughs. M' br'ther looks greener, slightly s'ck, blood dr'ppin' fr'm his mouth.

"He's a zombie," Marvel s'ys.

"He wants brains," Poppy says with a giggle, with a meow.

"She'sh'acat!" Kelley s'ys with a smile.

"Meow!" Poppy giggles.

"Wh't 'bout you?" I ask.

"I'm a scarecrow," Marvel groans flatly. "A _scarecrow." _

I ch'ckle ta m'self. That's gotta suck.

But suddenly th' thought 'f human flesh sounds m're tasty than gross. 'Nd that's pr'bably th' scariest thing I'll encounter t'day.

"Have fun, Irish kid," Santana says with a grin.

Th'n she disappears.

"Come on, Dog boy," Marvel says.

"We have to get to puuuurrrrr-st period!" Poppy says with a smile.

Kelley rolls his eyes. I join 'im.

"Really?" Marvel says, smilin' 'nyways.

"Of course! Wouldn't be Halloween without it!" she says happ'ly.

I l't out a bark 't 'er 'nd the poor l'ttle cat-lass runs away. Marvel follows 'er.

Even though that w's rude, I can't help but snicker.

I think I'm gonna like scarin' cats 'nd chasin' around zombies 'nd 'umans.

Speakin' of 'umans, I see one of em walkin' by himself.

It's Locke 'nd he's with Jason. Both of 'em 're still 'umans. But Kelley c'n help fix that with me.

I send 'im on a wild brains chase. He chases Jason around 'nd moans, "BLOUDY… BRAAAAIIINNNNSSSSS…"

Locke tries ta' run away fr'm me but did I mention that werewolves are fast!?

I have 'im against the wall before 'e can do as much as cry out.

'Nd now Locke Gedeckt's mine fer the bitin'.


	13. From Blue to Red Twice

**(UNLUCKY…) Chapter 13: From Blue to Red… Twice**

_~Sunday: Elijah Crowly~_

It was, uh, my freshman year. Yeah. My freshman year was when I got bit.

I was a human, and as most humans were in Panem, I was cowering in fear all day long.

My cousin Theo was a sophomore. He was and is a werewolf... He provided me with needed comfort and protection all day.

Even with werewolves protecting me, everyone noticed my blue eyes. Not red... Blue.

But I made it through the school day without any disaster happening. Somehow.

And I was walking home when it happened.

He was fast as lightning.. Faster... Faster than anything I'd ever seen before.

He had me against the wall with a hiss.

I think I screamed. I'm pretty sure I did.

His eyes glowed bright red.

Suddenly my instincts kicked in and I kicked him as hard as I could at the time. His face contorted into a scowl and he hissed again, an ugly, menacing, terrifying hiss.

"You watch it, freshman!" he hissed, flying at me.

His red eyes glowed brighter with anger, and he slammed me against the wall with a palm to my chest. The force knocked the air out of me and I wheezed.

He let out a menacing laugh, inhaling his prey smugly.

"You thought you could fight a vampire, human? You thought you could fight a senior, freshman!?"

"Wh…Who are you… What do you want from me!?" I asked, still squirming but otherwise giving up on the fight.

"I'm William Shatern. I'm a senior at this school and you're my yearly Halloween treat."

When he hissed at me that time I saw exactly what he meant: huge fangs in place of his top teeth, sharp and glinting in the little streetlight.

Now, when I heard the word treat, my mind went to ice cream and kittens… not human blood. So I did the only thing a helpless freshman can do when they're about to be sucked dry by a scary senior: I cried and screamed for help.

"Theo! THEO! MASON!"

He slammed my head against the brick wall with his palm and smirks, "Nobody's coming to save you now! They're all scared of me!"

"THEO! MASON! SAVE ME, PLEASE!" I screamed into his hand, but the sounds were so muffled I knew that it was useless.

William put his face by my ear and whispered in a menacing voice, "Hush little freshman... Don't say a word..."

I did hush, to a quiet whimper.

"You'll be a vampire..." he paused, licking his lips and flashing me the wickedest smile of them all, and finished his creepy lullaby, _"If you don't die first..."_

I distinctly remember his breath against my neck. Warm and moist… By the way he panted with anticipation, I could tell that he was going to savor every moment of his feast.

I tried one last time to struggle and fight, hoping I could distract him or fend him off.

But he was stronger than me by a longshot and all hope of my escape was smashed.

His lips touched my neck and I turned red and got hot all over.

He sucked on my neck for a second, taking in the smell and feel of the blood that pumped through my veins.

His raspy whispering drove me insane, along with his breath against my neck, along with the fact that a senior was basically going to drink me like a juicebox. The words seemed to slither from William's mouth like snakes. "Just... Relax... And it might... It might hurt less..."

He sucked on my neck just a second more before he bit.

It hurt so bad... God, I don't think I've ever felt pain that intense and I don't think I ever will. All I remember is the tears pouring down my cheeks and the world going black.

* * *

"Don't kill him!" that was the voice I heard.

I saw eyes.

Not red eyes…

Blue eyes.

Extremely blue eyes.

Bright blue eyes.

Bluer eyes than eyes I think I'll ever see...

And he said it again, running over, "Shatern! Don't kill him!"

My whole body stung, my sight almost gone... I was positive I was already dead.

William pulled away from me.

"Williams!? How'd you stay a human so long!?"

The words echo. William's strong hand left my chest for good and I slumped down , sitting on the floor and waiting to die already.

Then I heard the blue-eyed boy speaking nervously, "Shatern, wait!" But I heard William hissing again.

His screams got louder and more urgent. "MATT! BROWN! MATTHEW! SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!" he screamed desperately.

"Your boyfriend can't help you now!" William yelled at him, and even I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was smiling.

"FOCUS ON YOUR BLOOD!" the blue-eyed boy yelled, "SAVE YOURSELF! And if you see Matt… Tell him… Tell him that I love him."

William's hand would've silenced him, too, but blue-eyed boy stopped talking.

I did as he said and suddenly felt a small amount of blood swirl around in my veins. _Do I have hope!?_

But the blue-eyed boy's screams are the last thing I hear before I black out, echoing and echoing again until my sight is black and my hearing is gone...

* * *

_Theo's POV_

As soon as Matt heard the screams, he ran. He ran faster than I'd ever seen him run before.

I took off after him. Mason and Gale stayed behind, but I could smell my cousin Elijah somewhere near and had to check on him.

"FUCK OFF, SHATERN!" Matt barked loudly.

William looked up, releasing the red-haired boy he was sucking the blood of.

That's when I saw Elijah. He was knocked out, looking completely dead to the world.

"YOU BITE HIM!?" I bark, "DID YOU BITE HIM!?"

William suddenly growls at us and snarls, "I'm a vampire, of course! It's what I do! Good luck with these two… There's no hope for either of 'em."

He turns into a bat and flies away before either of us can really show him what we're made of.

Matt runs over to his boyfriend and scoops him up, and I do the same to my cousin.

Matt looks over to me and barks, a clear translation of; _Your sister. _

_What about her?_

_We need her. She's a witch, isn't she?_

_She is… Good idea. _

He takes off quickly and I follow.

We run to my house and through the door. Nathalia looks up, then at the two boys in Matt's and my arms.

"Set 'em down," she says, "I can only try to help."

* * *

Matt and I are people again soon.

His eyes flicker with concern and sadness as he keeps close sight of his boyfriend, whose name is (haha, coincidence) Theo. But it's not me.

I keep my eyes on Elijah. One of them… Just one of them has to wake up.

"Thanks for coming with me," Matt says weakly.

"No problem," I reply.

"Even though I bit you?"

"I'm glad you did."

"I've been trying to protect him from this," he says darkly.

"I understand the feeling." I reply sadly.

"But nobody is this close to the one that bit them… Seeing Theo like this, all because of William… Knowing you probably looked worse than this, all because of me…"

"It's Halloween, just as you said," I tell him. "Besides, Matt, we're a pack. And that's what pack-members do for each other."

He smiles, "Thanks."

Suddenly, Elijah's eyes snap open.

One pair of blue eyes turned to red.

And soon, Theo's eyes snap open and make it two.


	14. Cold

**Chapter 14: Cold**

_~Monday: Ben Hoffsteader~_

Nope.

Nuh-uh.

I'm not talking.

I HATE the story of how I got bit.

"Then _I'll _tell it!" Elijah says cheerfully.

Vampire bastard.

No, no, I'm not letting anyone hear it from him. He'll tell it wrong.

"You tell it wrong!" Elijah snaps at me.

Nope.

Still not letting him tell it.

So shut up, Crowly, and let me tell this thing the right way.

* * *

It was my freshman year.

Yes, it's ALWAYS freshman years, get over it.

And yes, I was as cold of a freshman as I am a junior: maybe in a slightly different way, but cold all the same.

There were a lot of humans in our class, and a good number of hungry seniors and juniors.

The sophomores usually get the least to eat, but some of them were cold, heartless, and especially _selfish. _

"And you're fucking not!?" Elijah sneers.

"Who cares? The point is that **you **are!"

Elijah rolls his eyes. "Just… Continue."

Anyways, before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I told you about the cold-hearted **serpent **that happened to be in my study hall.

Well, study hall on Halloween is a mad fight between the monsters for the flesh and blood and brains of the humans. And it was that idiot Theo and his dog friends versus assorted vampires, zombies, and undead shit like that.

And the only _human _in that class, you ask?

"Nobody asked!" the faggot sneers.

It was still me.

Anyways, (AGAIN), while these monsters dueled it out, all I could do is watch.

And suddenly, from the fight, he flew.

The serpent.

The _faggot _serpent.

The _cold-hearted motherless_ faggot serpent _bastard. _

"Shut the fuck up, we get it!" he shouts, rolling his eyes.

Anyways, he pranced right over in that fabulous man-loving way of his and shoved me on a table, back against the wall.

"Guess who won?" he asked in a creepy whisper, moving into my personal space.

Everyone cheered. "Lijah! Lijah! Lijah!"

He hissed, sucked, and bit my neck.

And the pain.

Exploded.

In my body.

Like.

The.

Firing.

Pits.

Of.

Fucking.

Hell. 

"Suck 'im dry!" someone cheered. The werewolves barked. The room burst into even louder shouting than before.

Then he basically left me to die.

"I DID NOT!" Band geek bastard spits.

He did.

"THAT'S IT! I'M TELLING THIS STORY BECAUSE YOU'RE A LIAR!"

Nope.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the fagpire raped my body while I was blacked out.

He rolls his eyes, "You're terribly ignorant. I hope you know that."

Still wouldn't be surprised.

"Anyways, you know the last thing I said to you was-"

He's lying.

"'Focus on what you have.' I left you with a good amount of blood in your veins!"

Within the deep depths inside me, I know he's right. But I will never admit it.

"You sucked my blood," I grow coldly. "And for that I'll never forgive you."

He scowls.

"Like you haven't hurt anyone," he spews out sarcastically. "You are the cold, angry breaker of people. So stop breaking others, would ya!? And be goddamn glad that you're not broken yourself."

He storms off, leaving me by myself.

Not that I would've if I could've, but I easily could've told him honestly that he's wrong.


	15. Welcome To Halloween High

_**A/N: TIME FOR THE HALLOWEEN AU!**_

**Chapter 15: Welcome to Halloween High**

It's 6:00 on Thursday, October 31st. Halloween Day. And Panem feels… A little bit different…. To Tanner.

He hears something howl in the distance and yelps.

_It's just… It's just Ben or someone obnoxious out to scare me… _he tells himself. And he's determined not to let it show that he's even the least bit scared.

He slowly walks through the doors of the school.

Panem High is different than it was yesterday. The halls are dark, Tanner can only see looming blobs of dark figures walking around in them.

And suddenly, bright red eyes right in front of his make him yelp. A crooked smile comes into view soon, as well.

"Oh, hey Tanner!" a voice says, "Happy Halloween!"

Tanner yelps again, and Arrow laughs.

"Nice blue eyes," he comments with a nod, "Won't find a lot of them around this time of year."

Arrow shifts his course to his homeroom to walk along with Tanner.

"Y...You're all monsters!?" the junior squeaks.

Arrow laughs, "All of them are! Well, except you, I guess."

Tanner finally takes the chance to look over at the older boy.

Arrow's dark hair sticks up every which way, but it's hard to notice because a lot of it is covered by a big black top hat. His eyes, now a sharp red instead of their usual soft color, are masked with dark circus eyeliner. Various prints and designs stand out when Arrow smiles.

"Maybe not as cool as everyone, but dark magic isn't too bad," the ringmaster says cooly upon noticing Tanner's staring.

"It's cool!" Tanner says, turning back around and catching Poppy's eye.

Poppy gives him a smile and a, "Meow!"

"Don't look her in the eyes for too long," Arrow warns. "Only bad luck comes to those who hang around a black cat."

Tanner nods. He raises an eyebrow upon seeing Marvel the scarecrow kiss her cheek.

Arrow looks over and, noticing his confusion, clarifies. "Santana's been helping him," he says, "So has Li."

"What are they?" Tanner asks, becoming more curious than creeped out.

"She's a witch. And yes, I mean it literally. She specializes in potions. Li is a wizard. He does spells more than potions, though. And he's got a new test rat now." The ringmaster scowls, "More like… test _bat._"

"Oh?" Tanner asks, "Would that be Elijah?"

"They can't keep their lips off each other," Arrow growls, glaring at the floor.

"Really?" Tanner raises an eyebrow. He finds it a little hard to believe considering they just got together a couple weeks ago.

"That's what Linus gets for dating a vampire," Arrow mutters, eyes focused on the floor, "And when that vampire actually likes you back... I guess you would get good at kissing around fangs.

Tanner frowns. "You look upset," he observes.

"I'm fine," he mutters, even though it's obvious that he's not. He swipes his left hand across thin air and a black and red scepter appears in it. The dark-haired boy leads Tanner to first period.

* * *

Tanner takes a seat next to a girl's head. But there is no body to accompany her, and she's trapped inside a crystal ball.

"Let me out of here!" Clove growls, "Somebody! I am SO trapped!"

She looks up at the boy sitting beside her.

"You're a human?" she asks flatly.

"Y…Yeah…"

She sighs, "Do your parents have a death wish for you?"

"M…Maybe…" Tanner stammers nervously.

Clove laughs. "A lot of Panem kids were humans. But a lot of them got bit by something that goes bump in the night. Irish kid got bit by Athena's ex this morning."

Tanner thinks about the limited times that he's met Theo.

Thinking about him biting anyone is terrifying.

Clove laughs at his terrified expression. "If you think that's bad, wait till you hear how I got here!"

Tanner swallows hard.

"Last year, at the Halloween dance, I stole my Cato from an evil little witch. She put a hex on me… And this year, I'm stuck."

Tanner is horrified at this as well."

"I'll…I'll just stay human, thanks."

"Good luck with that," Clove says, "But sooner or later one of these monsters is going to seduce you and you will give in. Someday."

"Not happening," Tanner says, "Not today!"

"Maybe not this year," Clove says, "But your senior year, you definitely will. And, uh... Don't spend _too _much time with the Ringmaster over there... Because he is making eyes at you, Cooper. And when a monster falls for a human... You'll know."

Tanner gives Arrow a slight smile and a wave. Arrow turns back around, a hot blush forming on his cheeks.

Clove smirks, "Get in touch with your sexy side, why don't ya?" she challenges, "It's the only way you'll ever get what you want this time of the year. Also the only way to trick humans like yourself," Clove chuckles. "Don't you dare let Ring-boy touch you. Especially not with his lips. One kiss can steal your fate forever. And don't even think about getting pinned by a vampire. That's what happened to Ben Hoffsteader last year. Now... He's hungry."

The bell rings and Tanner walks out of the room.

* * *

Arrow appears suddenly behind him. "Pretty fun, isn't it?" the charming senior asks with another crooked smile.

"N-no," Tanner stammers nervously. Suddenly a whirl passes them.

Arrow scowls, "Bet that's Elijah going to suck face with my best friend," he growls. He forms his hand in a fist and the scepter appears back in it. Then, Tanner hears a voice. "I SMELL HUMAN!" he only remotely recognizes the snarling, raspy voice of his bully. Suddenly, he feels a tug on his shoulder and he blinks to adjust to the suddenly dark environment.

Glowing eyes smile at him and Tanner cringes. "N…No…" he whispers.

Arrow laughs, a surprisingly bright sound in the dark environment. "Don't worry, Tan, I'm not going to rape you! And, by the way, if a monster wants to have sex with you they will most likely succeed." He blushes slightly as he says, "But, uh… That's not it. Open your eyes."

Tanner hesitantly does so. The senior reaches over and holds his eyelids open with his fingers. "Focus on keeping your eyes open," Arrow says, pulling out a case.

"Wh…What are you doing?" Tanner asks, voice quivering, as Arrow's pointer finger floats towards his left eye.

"Contacts," the senior whispers, "I'm making you into a monster."

Tanner's eye twitches and burns as Arrow presses the orb against his pupil.

Tears spring to his eyes as Arrow pulls his finger back.

"Close it gently," the ringmaster warns, taking the right contact out of the case and holding Tanner's other eye open.

The junior keeps his left eye closed but his pupils fly around nervously and he flinches when the contact touches his eye.

Arrow slowly lets go and Tanner keeps both eyes closed. He feels something being tied around his forearm and his eyes, now adjusted slightly to the feel of the contacts, fly open again.

"It's string," Arrow laughs, "But it looks like stitches! That'll fool the zombies for sure."

Arrow then takes a knee. A knife appears in his hand and Tanner cringes. But the senior doesn't notice, getting to work at slashing Tanner's jeans.

He works up to the junior's waist before he notices the couple of cuts he's made.

"Hope you don't mind a little blood," he says with a hint at a smile.

Suddenly, both boys hear a voice.

"Arrow!" Linus exclaims from the doorway.

Realizing the suggestion of his tone, Arrow and Tanner both blush.

Linus laughs, "Found some eye-candy, I see. I'll say, though, of all places, isn't the bathroom a little obvious?"

"He was just... Making me a monster..." Tanner stammers.

Linus gives Arrow a look, "Going for your first, I see. And he looks like a keeper."

"I'm not doing what you think I'm doing," Arrow mutters.

"Good, because if you were-"

Arrow's scepter reappears in his palm and he holds it up to Linus's eyes in a flash.

"DAMMIT!" Linus groans, trying to look away, but it's too late. The lights pull his pupils forward and he freezes. Arrow grasps the scepter and walks in a circle around his frozen friend. He whispers in his ear, "Stop teasing us. Now. Walk away and pretend like this never happened."

Tanner watches, shocked.

The senior fluently snatches the scepter back in one motion and when Linus unfreezes he does as Arrow commanded.

The scepter disappears and Arrow pats Tanner's wounds with a cloth. "Sorry about that," he says.

"If you can do… That… Why can't you fend off that vampire?" Tanner asks.

Arrow sighs, "Dark magic doesn't deal well with love. And beside,s Elijah won't stay put long enough for me to have control over him."

Tanner nods. Arrow runs the knife across his shirt but doesn't touch the skin this time.

"I'm taking a sample of your blood and calling it my science project," Arrow says, "So that's the story we'll use if Ben asks. But he can't get a hold of it."

Tanner nods as Arrow seals the lid of a jar. Then he runs his hands through the junior's hair, completely messing it up.

Arrow gives his creation a nod and says, "Follow my lead."

Tanner follows his friend out of the bathroom and whispers, "Thanks."

* * *

Then, a pile of old cloth waddles past them, groaning in perfect tune. Tanner already recognizes the melodious voice and smiles, "Skeeter! You're a mummy!?"

The wad of cloths gives a nod, "Mmmhmm."

"Wow!"

"Rue is going to murder me!" Skeeter says, though it's muffled by the cloth covering the majority of his face.

"What'd you do!?" Tanner asks.

"Rue is going to murder me!" Skeeter repeats, dragging Tanner down as a spear flies over their heads.

"And Santana's out to help her!"

"Why!?" Tanner asks, shocked.

"She's a lonely little ghost," Skeeter says, "And she can't exactly touch humans. Now that I'm her boyfriend, she wants to annihilate my mummily-body so I'll be a ghost. Don't trust that girl around Halloween."

"Sweet little Rue!?" Tanner asks, shocked.

"Sweet little Rue with a spear!" Skeeter says as Rue approaches, stumbling away.

The specter walks over. "Hi Tanner!" she says as she picks up the purple, glowing spear and puts it at her side, "Where's Skeeter?"

"Are you really out to murder him!?" Tanner asks, shocked.

"I only want to annihilate the body," she says with a sweet tone, "And Santana put a hex on this spear so that not only can I hold it, but it can impale my boyfriend by his adorable little heart."

She smiles sweetly. Tanner's stomach flops.

"R…Right…"

"And I will kill that boy. Because he's going to have to face me. Seventh period," she says with a wicked smile. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Tanner!" she smiles pleasantly.

Tanner provides a nervous laugh, "Haha, yeah…"

"I'll talk to you later!" she calls. Then she floats away from him and disappears.

"Ah sophomore love," Arrow whispers dreamily. "I never got it."

"Me neither," Tanner remarks quietly.

Arrow lazily twirls the scepter around in his fingers. Up close, Tanner can see the engravings on it: the most prominent of which is, of course, an arrow.

"How'd you become a monster?" Tanner asks curiously, changing the subject.

"Well, you know how I'm an orphan, right?"

Tanner nods.

"Well, going through so much at one time… It took a toll on me. It left me pretty unstable, for sure. And magic… Especially dark magic… It really is a good way out. I'm wonderfully insane now. And, the moment you get bit, you'll see that it's actually pretty great."

Posy walks past them on her eight skinny legs, bearing her spider fangs and hissing at Tanner. Upon seeing his new features, the spider-girl retreats, going back to her hissing and hallway wandering.

* * *

Suddenly, Tanner runs into two familiar figures.

Locke's figure looks even stronger than before, though up close he looks extremely weak. Jason, or at least Tanner thinks it's Jason, walks with him. But the Jason-like figure has no head.

"Hey guys," Tanner greets. Arrow's scepter glows.

"God… I feel awful…" Locke stammers.

His green eyes look around nervously. Locke's soft green eyes were one of the first things Tanner noticed about him: besides his usually charming personality, outstanding ability to make friends, perfect hair: which actually isn't perfect but there was a time during which Tanner thought it was perfect… But his eyes are the one part of him that Tanner still notices today. They're not extremely bright, and they're not emerald green… No, Locke's green eyes remind Tanner more of the pretty plants outside than they do of any precious gemstone. They're quite nice, and even though Tanner is over his crush on Locke now, he still can't help but notice them.

"He got bit," Jason says nervously, "And I don't know by what! But his wounds… won't stop bleeding!"

"Makeitstop…" Locke's words are slurred from weakness as he begins to black out.

Arrow's scepter disappears again and he looks upset. "Who bit you?" he asks earnestly.

Locke quivers, shaking violently and slowly slumping to the floor. "T'w's… Edward…" as he says it his voice decrescendos and slowly fades into a whisper. A second after the words escape his mouth, Locke passes out.

"I'll be right back," Arrow says, "I think I know who can help. Santana'll know what to do." He poofs away in a dark puff of smoke.

"Not Santana…" Headless Jason mutters to no one in particular, "I'm scared of girls… Especially that girl… She acts all weird around me and I really don't understand-"

She appears just then with Arrow and Jason screams at seeing her bright red eyes appear in front of him.

Santana cackles, "Oh, sleepy Jason Hollow!"

"Don't make references to Sleepy Hollow. Please."

Arrow appears next to Tanner just then.

"Locke passed out!" Jason says to Santana, "And he won't stop bleeding!"

Santana makes no effort to stifle her smile, "Finally. Who got 'im?"

"We think Edward," Arrow says.

"Well the sophomore who just got bit today is already one step ahead of you," Santana teases.

Arrow sighs.

"Oh, chill. I got this." Santana snaps and a cauldron appears at her feet. Another snap and a fire appears at the bottom of the cauldron. Santana pulls some colorful liquids out of her bag and mixes them all together with a stick. Arrow watches intently, Tanner's fear burning off into curiosity. He looks in the cauldron as the substance noisily goes to a boil. Santana hums softly, holding out her hands. A glass appears in her palm. She dips it in the tar-colored liquid and puts it to Locke's lips.

"He'll wake up a werewolf," the witch says with a huge smile.

Jason groans, "Hopefully his head won't fall off."

Tanner cringes. Arrow laughs slightly at the junior's fright. Santana wiggles her fingers and her materials disappear.

Suddenly, Locke's eyes snp open, changing from their normal soft green that Tanner loved and flashing bright red.

Jason jumps, Tanner makes an, "Ah!" sound. Arrow and Santana burst into hysterical laughter, "You two are hilarious!"

"How do you feel?" Jason asks his friend. Locke blinks. "I feel a lot better than I did before!" he says with a smile, "Like I can do anything!"

"Including turning into a werewolf," Santana smiles sweetly. Locke pauses. "What!?" his mouth drops open.

"The Irish kid bit you," Jason says, "You're a werewolf."

"Well, imagine that…" Locke says. Edward walks past the group just then, giving Locke an evil smile and a wink. Then, the ginger barks. Locke instinctively barks back. He knows the message it conveys: _Welcome to the pack._

Locke isn't sure how… But he knows.

Edward gives a grin, showing off his sharp, pointed teeth. Locke's tongue flies to his own teeth, and his red eyes glow as he feels the jagged, uneven texture.

When Locke snaps back into it, Edward's gone. Santana grins, "Good luck with your new doggy, Lover boy. And mark my words when I say I will feed you a love potion, my Sleepy Hollow…"

"Don't-" Jason begins to protest, but POOF! She disappears.

"Have fun with that first transformation, buddy!" Arrow says.

He takes Tanner by the arm and the two walk away.


	16. Have a Haunting Halloween!

_**A/N: HALLOWEEN PART TWO! :D**_

**Chapter 16: Have a Haunting Halloween!**

While this is happening, Elijah meets his boyfriend after first period is over.

"God, Linus… You smell delicious…" he whispers, moving closer towards Linus's neck.

"Try this!" the wizard says nervously, sticking a beaker of red liquid in front of his lips.

Elijah raises an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Please?" It's times like this that Linus misses his brown eyes, which he can usually use to mooch favors from his boyfriend.

"It smells funky."

"Come on!"

"I'd rather have a different red liquid from you…" Elijah whispers seductively.

Linus blushes as Elijah puts his lips on his neck. The wizard soon finds that outsmarting a sexy vampire may prove to be a tricky task.

Finally he decides that the only way to counteract a seductive vampire is to be seductive himself. He whispers in Elijah's ear, "O…Or… How about… A different part of me goes into your mouth?"

"That's extremely perverted," the vampire chuckles against the wizard's neck.

"It was intentional," the blonde whispers back, nibbling on the top of Elijah's ear, desperately trying to get those fangs away from his neck.

The vampire looks up. So far, it's working.

"Besides, don't you like teeth on fangs?" Linus asks, taking the vampire's chin and guiding it away from his neck.

"I suppose," the brunette says quietly, pressing the blonde against a wall. "But that hickey there marks you as mine."

"I already have been!" Linus laughs breathlessly.

"Good," Elijah smiles against the wizard's lips. Linus smiles back as the vampire kisses him.

* * *

Seventh period rolls around as a full moon appears in the dark sky unusually early.

The glee club and assorted members of the pit sit in the music room. Elijah sits still in his chair and twitches with thirst. Tanner sits by himself. Rue looks around crazily. "Where's… SKEETER!?" she asks loudly.

"Calm yourself, Rue," Mr. Everdeen says with a smile, "Skeeter will show up. Until then, put the spear down and let's sing a little!"

He scales the room, taking attendance. "One last call for Skeeter…"

The sophomore quietly taps on his shoulder, whispering, "Linus made me invisible."

"FOUL PLAY!" Santana pouts, jumping up, "Linus cast a spell on you!"

"Foul play!" Rue squeaks in agreement.

The blonde boy appears in the doorway. "Sorry sister," Linus says smugly, "But all is fair in a magic battle." He twirls the wand around in his fingers, "Wizard versus witch, sis."

"Help me!" Rue squeaks to Santana, "We have to find him!"

Santana shrugs, "I dunno. Invisible things are up to you."

Rue pouts. Linus smiles, walking in the room and sitting on Elijah's lap. "He could be anywhere."

"I can do this… I'm a ghost! If I focus my energy right I will find him!"

Linus bites the inside of his cheek nervously, and Santana is the one to be smug, "Who's so high and mighty now, Shatern?"

Rue focuses on finding her invisible boyfriend.

Linus presses his forehead to his boyfriends and mutters, "I've suddenly stopped caring…"

The two start making out again just as Rue has Skeeter tracked down, spear in hand.

"Rue, wait!" he begs.

"I'm too lonely to go on! Don't you want access to my lips all year round!?"

"Sounds nice, but… I don't want to die!"

"It'll be easy! I'll show you!"

Everyone stares in horror as Rue throws the spear. It hits Skeeter square in the chest and everyone cringes upon hearing his scream.

Soon the body goes limp. Tanner feels feint and buries his head in his hands.

Rue covers her mouth, wide-eyed with surprise that she actually did it.

"We win," Santana says with a cackle. When they look over, Linus is too busy kissing around fangs to notice.

Santana and the rest of the glee club then look back to the very back of the room, where Skeeter's dead corpse lies. Santana says a spell but nothing happens.

"S…Skeeter?" Rue asks, biting her fingernails nervously.

Suddenly his spirit appears. "What the!?"

He looks around.

"Rue… And… Me!" he points down at the corpse, "But the probability of dead bodies turning to ghosts is….."

"Much higher for monsters than for humans. If a human gets sucked dry, it's a lot harder to get a ghost from them than it is from a mummy like you used to be."

"Woah…"

Rue just giggles, pouncing on him.

"Woah!" Skeeter says, almost falling over but catching his girlfriend.

"I missed you!" Rue says with a sweet smile, "Please don't be mad."

Skeeter sighs, "I'm not."

Rue grins, "Good!" then she presses her lips against his.

Then, Mr. Everdeen starts to hum a tune. As he continues, the children silence, any noise they try to make being magically muted.

Their teacher smiles, "Ok, it's time to get to work and start rehearsal. How's everyone today?"

He hums the theme backwards and the students are able to talk again.

"Great!" Marvel says.

"Super-sexy, as always!" Athena says, with an unnecessary booty-pop.

"She's a succubus," Skeeter whispers to Tanner, "Trying to have sex with everyone then killing them."

Tanner nods.

"Alright," headless Jason mutters.

"Fauntastic!" Edward says happily.

"I'm happy to introduce to you today your new student teacher. He'll be here to observe and give you advice. He's also an alumni of Capitol Academy."

"Ew, Capitol Academy!" Athena sneers, and everyone else agrees.

"But, he can give us advice and the inside story on their methods. You'll find him to be a good tool."

Athena winks. Tanner feels uncomfortable.

The freshmen look confused.

"Capitol Academy… Our greatest rival… A group of kids just like us. And their extremely rich, snobby school."

"Oh." Bonnie makes a face. Posy hisses. Kelley frowns, still thinking about brains like the zombie he is.

"They challenge us at least once a year," Athena adds.

"And they suck!" Rue adds.

"The leader of their club this year is a boy named Jack. He's good," Mr. Everdeen says.

"What about Sebastion?" Athena asks, remembering her old friend who was a junior last year like she was.

"Guess he wasn't good enough," Mr. Everdeen says.

"I don't remember anyone named Jack," Marvel says.

They all shrug, "Guess we'll see this year, won't we?"

Suddenly, a void of darkness appears in the middle of the room and out of it comes a man with dark hair and red eyes accented with blue-silver. He wears a suit and tie with a pair of dark converse on his feet.

"Sorry I'm late…" he says. Mr. Everdeen smiles. "Kids, meet your new student teacher Mr. Krietzer."

He certainly looks fresh from college.

"Hello, all!" he sounds tired. "And, before you ask… Yes, I hate Capitol Academy as much as you all do." The silvery blue in his eyes pops when they flicker.

"I don't think that's possible," Marvel says.

"Oh, we have so much in common," Athena says with a suggestive smile.

Tanner can't help but think of the normally shy Athena he used to know.

"Alright, Siren Succubus thing. Hold it. Don't even try anything, any of you. I've been bitten by so many different creatures that I'm just a bit of everything. Which means that I don't fall for any stupid jokes."

Athena pouts.

"Hey guys…" Posy suddenly pipes up, "Where's Daphne?"

Prim, a pretty angel, looks around, "I dunno…" she says nervously.

"Don't you guys remember!? She's from _Liberty!_"

"What's wrong with Liberty?" Tanner asks softly, glancing up at Locke and Jason. Jason is in a very bored position, Locke is attempting to lick his armpit.

"They're… They're the monster hunters!" Rue whispers, scared.

"I remember the good ol' days when I didn't have to worry about silver bullets," Locke mutters, "But now I could very well be shot by Caeda of all people!"

Edward pipes up, "Yer'wilcom!" he says happily. He barks and Locke barks back, leaving everyone else confused.

"There's a schoolwide competition going on," Skeeter says, "To see who can get her first."

"How has she gone so long?" Tanner asks.

"Well…" Marvel says nervously, "She has, um…"

Suddenly the door bursts open. Daphne's cheeks are painted with black and brown, a bred, white and blue bandana is tied around her head. She carries a large black gun, eyes sparkling with anger, "DIE YOU FILTHY MONSTERS!"

She screeches upon seeing a familiar figure in the halls, shoving him against a wall, "DIE BEN HOFFSTEADER!"

He groans.

"This is for Skeeter, this is for me! I am NOT my father, he is NOT his father, and we never will be! And I'm glad that I'm the one that gets to make your last moments miserable!"

She puts the gun in her belt and subs it out for a wooden stake.

"I've been waiting…. Waiting… WAITING! For the perfect moment when I get to put this thing through your cold heart! You LIED to me! And you USED me!"

Kelley sees this as his only chance to get his brains. Edward tugs on his arm but instead his hand falls off and Kelley keeps walking.

Tanner watches through a crack in his fingers.

Nate, a half-human half-skeleton, watches, the muscled side of his face turned upwards in a grin.

Daphne pulls the stake back, teeth clenched, ready to kill Ben. Suddenly, Kelley jumps on Daphne's back.

"BLOODY….BRAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINNNSSSSS!" the freshman growls.

She screeches, letting go of Ben enough for him to run away. Kelley covers her eyes with the one of his hands that remains.

The glee club is in chaos. The student teacher is horrified.

Kelley bites into Daphne's head on his quest for brains.

"BLOODY…BRAAAIIINSSS!" Daphne screams, collapsing to her knees as Kelley eats at her.

"SANTANA! HELP!" Rue shrieks. Tanner screams, burying his face in his hands. Nate is shocked. Locke stands up with a low growl aimed at Kelley. He aches with homesickness and feels angry at the zombie for hurting his old best friend.

Jason tugs the seat of his pants and Locke sits again with an angry bark that translates to a curse word.

"I've never dealt with zombies before!" Santana's voice has gone squeaky.

"Linus!"

He pulls back from Elijah's lips. "Don't look at me!" he says, alarmed. Elijah looks concerned, reflecting on his own transformation.

Daphne lies on the floor in a puddle of blood. Their student teacher suddenly snaps into action, "Everyone, stay back. I've got this!"

He already has a cauldron boiling and liquid poured inside. Edward yanks his brother off of Daphne and soon Mr. K puts a glass of glowing green liquid to Daphne's lips. He pours it in her mouth and sits her up against the wall. He takes a cloth, dips it in the green liquid, and wraps it around Daphne's head. Edward helps Kelley put his hand back on and cleans the blood off his face.

Mr. K removes the cloth from Daphne and everyone waits.

Her skin has faded into a green color and soon, her eyes snap open, flashing red. Their student teacher has her weapons in his hands.

"Welcome to Panem, Daphne," Santana says with a smirk, "You're officially one of us now."

* * *

Linus gives Elijah a peck on the lips goodbye before heading back to his normal class.

Daphne returns to her normal seat and sulks. This is not what she wanted to happen at all.

Nate sees her so upset and tries to lighten the mood, "Hey, brave girl," he greets with a slight half-smile.

Daphne looks confused. "He got, uh, a little too close to Athena," Skeeter whispers.

"Of course he did," Daphne scowls. She's still trying to convince herself that, though she was wrong about Ben, that she's still right about him.

"But come _on," _Elijah says in defense of Nate, "That girl makes everyone wanna fuck her. There's just that certain feeling that you get when she's near. Even girls. Even gay boys."  
Daphne unfortunately can't deny the validity of the statement.

"It's really not Nate's fault that she chose him," Elijah adds.

"Hey, test bat!" Santana says, interrupting their comversation. She holds out a beaker of pink liquid, "Try this."

Elijah makes a face. "No. Linus has sweet-talked me into drinking enough."

Santana laughs to herself, "I don't think a lot of talking goes on between you two. Not unless you communicate telepathically while you're sucking each other's souls out."

Elijah sneers at her and Santana seems amused. "Fine. Hey, McIalwain!"

Nate shakes his head. His skeleton jaw against his cranium makes a clattering noise.

"Wow! See, I told you all! Percussion is really IN MY BONES!"

Everyone in the surrounding area groans. Nate laughs at his own joke, but stops short upon seeing the lack of laughter from others.

"What? Was that not…" he holds up his arm bone, "_Humorous_!?"

"Nate, stop." Elijah says.

Nate sighs in response, flesh-side of his face turning to a sad frown. "I know what you're all thinking… I'm nothing but a big bone-head."

Daphne glares at him. Nate cracks a smile.

"Wouldn't it be very unfortu-NATE if I were to really shut up?! Then you wouldn't be so entertained!" he cackles and everyone just groans.

"What are we singing today?" Elijah asks to change the subject.

"Guys, I think it's…" he holds up his double-boned leg, "_Tibia_nnounced!" He howls with laughter at his joke, "I really can't… _Fib_-ula!" Nate enjoys this.

Everyone else glares.

"What? Doesn't that tickle your funny bones!?"

"It doesn't," Daphne says.

"Fine. But just try to answer me this: why do haunted high schools hate it when it rains?"

Nobody says a word. Finally Kelley's hand shoots up and goes flying across the room. "AH, SHITE!" he says, then blinks at Nate. "Cos'itmakesithurderta'getBLOODYBRAAAAAIIIIINNNNSS S!" he answers. Daphne suddenly feels humiliated that she let herself get bit by this moron.

"No…" the skeleton sighs. "Because… It dampens their spirits!" he provides a rim-shot, using his tibia and fibula as drumsticks.

"Dear Lord Nate, shut up!" Rue glares.

"Please don't hurt this ol' sack of bones!"

"Nate, I'm seriously worried about you," Marvel says quietly.

"I am, too," he confesses. "I think I'm coming down with a femur."

Daphne growls. Elijah starts to laugh.

"What's all your favorite elements? Uranium? Radium?"

"Mine is Platinum!" their student teacher pipes up, laughing at a joke nobody else understands.

"Well mine is Cranium!" Nate says.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Daphne groans.

"Aw, come on, Daphne! Don't my jokes just send shivers up your spine? Don't they make your bones clatter with warm, passionate desire?" he smiles crookedly, teasingly giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"No," she says.

"Aw, come on, Daph! Do something cute and I might get a-"

"NATE!" Elijah says, covering his best friend's mouth with both hands.

"You're one to be talking," Santana mutters with a smirk.

"I might get a box of candy for her! Get your mind out of the gutter, Vampire!"

"He's been spending too much time with Linus," Marvel teases and they all laugh.

"Oh, so you laugh at him!?" Nate pretends to look offended.

"Because he's funny!" Posy says. Skeeter and Rue nod.

"Well I was only trying to affectio-NATE!" he says.

Elijah is the only one to laugh.

"Fine. Since I only have half a digestive system, though, I have problems eating. But everyone's been saying that I'm just skin and bones!"

"Nate. Stop. Dear Lord, we've been through enough suffering," Jason groans.

"Amen to that," Prim says, stretching her feathery angel wings.

Edward and Locke bark back and forth.

Daphne sighs, "Let's move on now. Please."

"Right, Mr. K says cheerfully, "So stop it with the puns, Cupcake. Because I'm sure you're wondering, _Wow! How can a college kid teach us anything? _Well, I'm about to show you. I need a guitar, a keyboard, drums and vocalists. So let's get this show on the road."

"If you sing monster mash I'm going to murder you," Daphne mutters.

"Don't worry, kid. I know what I'm doing." He straps a guitar around his shoulders.

Nate takes his tibia and fibula and cheerfully holds them up to separate them, chiming in, "BREAK A LEG!" Everyone groans.

"Alright, kids," Mr. K says, "If you know good music, this should be in your bones."

He doesn't pause at all before he starts the guitar part. Skeeter looks at his finger moving and keeps track of the notes, soon recognizing the notes as those from the B-52's song _Rock Lobster. _

The girls pick up on it sooner than him, though, toning in at the beginning with the trademark, "Ski-doo-be-dop…  
Eww!  
Ski-doo-be-dop…  
Eww!"

Mr. K leaves Skeeter with the guitar and takes the microphone stand, "We were at a party… His ear lobe fell in the deep! Someone reached in and grabbed it… Was a rock lobster!"

Edward tugs on Kelley's earlobe and it rips off. The ginger laughs, the brown-haired freshman taking it back from his brother. Then Kelley collects his arm that flew off earlier. Locke, Jason, Elijah, and Santana just watch.

Mr. K joins Marvel now on the keyboard, showing him different ways to play and a different setting that makes it sound cooler than just plain. He cues Skeeter in and Nate and soon Marvel before taking the microphone, "We were at the beach! Everybody had matching towels! Somebody went under a dock, and there they saw… a rock it wasn't a rock!" he says with a chuckle, "Was a rock lobster!"

He continues to play the keyboard with Marvel, smiling at Skeeter on guitar and Nate on drums. He cues in the girls, "Rock lobster!"

Marvel is amazed at how fluently their student teacher site-reads new music.

Then he cues Skeeter, Nate, and the girls in again, heading back to the microphone. "Motion in the ocean!"

The girls put in an, "Ooh ah!"

"His air hose broke!"

"Hoo ah!"

"LOTS of trouble…"

"Ooh ah!

"LOTS of bubbles…"

"Ooh ah!"

"He was in a jam!" their teacher laughs as he sings, "He's in a giant clam!"

He points at Skeeter, site-reading the guitar solo, before coming back in, "Rock lobster! Down, down!"

He gives a nod of approval at the girls' chromatics, cueing Skeeter and Nate back in.

This time he lets Marvel go on his own, and though his fingers slip a couple times, Mr. K is impressed.

The girls claim it back and Mr. K comes back in, "Rock lobster! Down, down!"

He walks over to Nate and fluently pulls a pair of drumsticks from his pocket, showing him unique ways to individualize from the drum part written. Skeeter goes through the guitar solo and only slips a couple of times. "Twistin' round the fire,  
Havin' fun!  
Bakin' potatoes!  
Bakin' in the sun!"

Nate is impressed with his student teacher's abilities. Mr. K lists off the sea animals, Posy and Bonnie taking turns making the sound effects.

Rue takes the obnoxiously high part at the end through giggling.

All of them admire how happy their student teacher looks when he sings.

The song ends and everyone claps, impressed. Mr. Everdeen smiles.

Mr. K gives them all a nod. "Oh, and you can all call me Platinum." He gives them all a wink before the bell rings and the school day is over.

* * *

Tanner realized that he survived a whole school day and smiles on his way home happily. That is, until Ben pins him.

"You're mine!" Ben hisses, "You're MINE, human!"

"I'm not…" Tanner cowers.

Ben rolls his eyes, "It's blatantly obvious that you are! Blue-eyes!" he squeezes the contact out of Tanner's right eye.

Tanner yelps, blinking to end the pain in his right eye. Soon, his left contact falls out on its own and Tanner is left to face the vampire that is his bully, alone and blue-eyed.

Tanner cowers some more. Ben grins wickedly, "Sssshhhh…."

Tanner yells. He screams as loud as he can. Ben puts a finger over his mouth, "Sssh. Don't you worry," the vampire says gently, "It'll only hurt like the fiery pits of hell."

Tanner swallows hard.

"Come on," Ben breathes against his neck, "Relaaaxx…" Tanner starts to sweat and squeezes his eyes shut.

They pop open again when Ben kisses his jawline. Ben kisses his jaw for a while, and Tanner can't help but relax. Gradually, Ben kisses down Tanner's neck and sucks on his pulse point for a second. Tanner has to bite his cheek to keep from crying out.

"Come on… Don't you want to know what it's like… On the dark side?" Tanner focuses on trying not to physically quiver.

And then Ben bites. Tanner lets out a cry as Ben sucks his blood.

The world slowly fades away from Tanner's eyes, and he collapses.

As Tanner falls unconscious, Ben is determined to suck him dry but is suddenly whacked over the head.

"Get off of him!" Linus yells forcefully, red eyes glowing, "And don't you dare make me bonk you again with my bonkin' staff!"

Ben groans, on his knees, "It was your fagpire that bit me in the first place… Blame him, not me," Ben says weakly.

In answer, Linus bonks Ben over the head again, knocking the vampire out. He silently thanks his teachers for giving him the idea to carry around a bonkin' staff.

While that happens, Elijah whirls through the halls in search of Arrow. He could be anywhere by now.

When Arrow sees the wisp approaching, he scowls.

"What do you want!?" he asks coldly.

"Arrow!"

The ringmaster glares, swiping his hand for the scepter.

"It's your human friend!" Elijah says, nothing but concern in his voice, "Ben got 'im! He's unconscious!"

Arrow's stone-cold glare softens, "Tanner!"

Elijah nods, "I'll get Santana," he says, disappearing. Arrow runs outside to find his friend.

"Oh God…" he mutters when he reaches the scene. Both Ben and Tanner are unconscious.

"Where's Elijah!?" Linus asks.

Arrow, as much as he hates the guy, has to be reasonable and give him credit for just once, "Thankfully, he went to get Santana."

* * *

Linus looks over Santana's shoulder, fascinated, as she brews up a potion to help Tanner.

Elijah squeezes the junior's arm and tries to feel blood running through. He feels nothing in the junior's veins.

"Santana, hurry!" he says.

"I'm trying!" she sneers.

Arrow can't stand to look. He bites his fingernails, red eyes darting around nervously.

"Is there anything I can do?" Linus asks.

"No. It's ready," she says as she quickly gets it in a glass and the glass to Tanner's lips.

The liquid pours down his throat as Arrow nervously watches. After losing his family and, in a way, his best friend, Arrow couldn't stand to see Tanner dead. Because ghosts are extremely hard to get from humans.

Santana's materials disappear.

Tanner weakly tries to open his eyes, and as it happens, they flicker from blue to red to blue again.

"He's going to die," Santana whispers to Linus, but not loud enough for Arrow to hear.

The wizard takes his boyfriend's hand and Santana turns to Arrow.

"Sorry," she says, "But I've done all I can do."

She poofs away and Arrow looks to Tanner with tears forming in his eyes. He wanted so badly to protect his junior friend from a fate like this.

Tanner tries one last time to open his eyes and Arrow gets an idea.

The senior's eyes flicker.

"She may've done all she can do…" he whispers to nobody in particular, "But I haven't!"

Then he quickly climbs on the table and takes a breath. He's never tried to turn any human to a monster before, but Arrow knows that the time to try is now. So he takes Tanner by the shirt and kisses him.

This time, Tanner's eyes snap open and glow bright red permanently.

The junior, now aware of the situation in front of him, puts a finger on Arrow's chin and guides his lips back when he tries to pull away. And now, Tanner kisses back.

And Arrow knows that he saved him. And that makes him feel good.

But soon he finds that now he, too, will learn to kiss around fangs.


	17. Scars

_**A/N: Posted a new poll on my profile! I would LOVE it if you all voted! PLEASE read the A/N at the bottom as well! **_

**Chapter 17: Scars**

When Tanner opens his eyes, he's sitting in a room in Santana's house.

Elijah and Linus hold hands, and Santana is nervously holding ice and bandages.

Arrow slowly pulls back and Tanner sees his soft eye color again.

He notices that Linus's are brown again and Elijah's are blue again.

_Was that all just a dream!? _

"Wh…What happened?" Tanner asks, head throbbing. Arrow sits next to him on the bed.

"Ben," Santana says, "He got you pretty bad."

'Yeah, I got that… Guys, I had the weirdest dream."

He takes Arrow's hand and the senior smiles.

Tanner continues, "Everyone in school was a monster! Santana was a witch, Linus was a wizard, and Elijah was a vampire that got bit by Linus's brother! And Daphne had a gun and was hunting monsters…" he starts to list off the monsters he saw in his dream.

Elijah and Linus laugh.

"Yeah?" Arrow asks, "What was I?"

"Oh, you were awesome!" Tanner says, "You were a dark ringmaster and you had this scepter and you would swipe your hand across thin air and it'd appear! And you used it to hypnotize Linus into doing what you said! It was wicked!"

Arrow smiles, "Sounds awesome. What were you?"

"I was a human! And you protected me from everything that tried to bite me!"

Arrow laughs softly, kissing Tanner's cheek gently.

"And Elijah and Linus were making out CONSTANTLY, everywhere, even in the halls! And the classrooms!"

Elijah blushes. Linus laughs, kissing the spot behind his ear, "That may possibly be true."

"And… We got a new student teacher…"

"That's true, too. Mr. K, but he wants us to call us by his first name," Santana says.

"Oh. Well, afterward, Ben bit me! And I blacked out and woke up to Arrow's kiss. Which was an extremely pleasant surprise."

The senior smiles affectionately.

"Well, in reality," Santana starts, "Daphne beat Ben into next Wednesday but Kelley jumped in and stood up for him. Poor freshman didn't know that he deserved all of what he got. But he helped Ben get away before she knocked him out. Mr. K sang Rock Lobster with us and it was awesome. Nate's been making the WORST Halloween jokes, and I've been calling Jason _Sleepy Hollow _all day. Ben, uh, beat you up pretty badly… Now we're here."

"Where exactly are we?" Tanner asks. He looks around the room. The walls are powder blue, there are multiple dressers and a vanity. There's a dark, wooden desk by the door and Tanner is sitting on a twin bed.

"I liked blue as a child!" Santana snaps.

"Ok…" Tanner says, "Geez…"

"Have any plans tonight?" Arrow asks Tanner. The dark-haired boy shakes his head.

"I ache too much to do anything…"

"Come on," Arrow smiles, "I'll help you home."

Tanner smiles at the other three seniors. "Thanks for your help. All of you."

Arrow helps him up and the two walk out together.

Santana sits where Arrow was in the twin bed.

"Talk to you later, Santana," Linus says quietly. Elijah gives his friend a sympathetic look before the two walk out the door.

Santana takes a pillow from the bed and buries her face in it.

* * *

Linus sneaks up behind his boyfriend and squeezes his sides.

"Boo!" he says and Elijah yelps. "Linus!" he groans, as his boyfriend doubles over laughing. "I hate it when you do that!" Elijah sighs.

Linus laughs and kisses his cheek, "Do you?"

The brunette nods, "Yes." He tries not to smile but fails.

"I talked to Nate," Linus says, "He told me all of your secret fears!"

Elijah looks horrified but Linus laughs, "What's the matter?" he hugs his boyfriend from behind, "Scared?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," Elijah lies.

"Oh really? Because Ntae told me someone was a little scared about being my boyfriend!"

Elijah's face goes bright red.

Linus continues to laugh, "Don't worry! It's funny! And cute!

"AND I'm going to MURDER Nate!" Elijah adds.

"No you won't," Linus says, hugging Elijah's waist tighter, "I won't let you."

Elijah sighs, "But it's Halloween! I could make it look like an accident," he says, making an insane face.

"Stop that!" Linus says, "It's freaking me out!" the blonde puts his chin on the brunette's shoulder, "But I do love to see your big blue eyes."

"Oh, please. Big brown eyes are so much cuter…." It almost comes out sounding like a question and the blue eyes look slightly nervous.

"That's sweet," Linus says with a smile, "But come on. Just look at those eyes."

"Just look at yours!" the brunette challenges back.

Linus laughs, "See? You're already perfect without even thinking about it!"

"You think?" Elijah asks, hopefully, "Because I want to make you happy…"

Linus laughs, keeping his arms tight around Elijah's torso. "You make me happy by just being you. Trust me, I'm just as new to romance as you are."

"You are?" Elijah asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Linus laughs, "You're my first real boyfriend, Lijah… Not necessarily my first kiss, but… my first true partner… And I'm glad it's you."

Elijah smiles, "I'm glad that you're mine, too."

Elijah turns his head in an attempt to see his boyfriend. Linus kisses the corner of his mouth, "So let's save the scares for the demons and tall buildings, yeah?"

Elijah blushes again at the allusion to his fear of heights. Linus laughs, spinning him around and putting his forehead against Elijah's. "Boo," he teases, before Elijah kisses him.

* * *

That night is the Halloween Dance, also Trick-or-Treat.

The Halloween dance is for students to bring whatever high-school guests they'd like and to have some fun in their best costumes.

Last year at the Halloween dance, Marvel and Clove plotted to break up Cato and Glimmer. Clove succeeded. And that's when Glimmer started to hate her.

Rory, Prim, Madge, Vick, and Posy all blow it off and just go Trick-or-Treating in one big group. Soon, though, Rory and Vick's hunger for candy wins out and they runs ahead of the girls, who refuse to go faster than a walk. All five of them get soaked in the heavy rain.

Rue spends her afternoon at the Odair household, and she helps wrap up Skeeter in toilet paper.

He twirls around and she holds the rolls.

"Isn't this going to be restricting for a dance?" Rue asks.

Skeeter shrugs, "I'll be Ok. I always am."

Rue laughs, "True," and keeps holding the toilet paper.

She wraps her boyfriend's head, avoiding the eyes and mouth. When she rips off the last piece and ties it, she gives him a peck on the lips. "You look mummy-tastic!" she says with a smile. He grins back.

"What are you going as?" he asks.

"A spirit," she says, pulling on a torn white dress. "My mom helped me make the costume."

"Cute!" he remarks. She laughs.

Finnick pops his head in the door, "Come on, you two! We have to get there early to decorate!"

Skeeter grins, "Ok! Let's go!"

He and Rue run to the car, and Finnick drives them to school.

Marvel, who, after much begging and puppy-eyes from Poppy, decided to be on the decorating committee again this year, greets the group with a smile and a wave of the paintbrush. He wears a straw hat and overalls with assorted patches.

Poppy wears a black dress and kitten ears.

Edward, who's hair is extra-shaggy today, turns around and waves. He wears jeans and a plaid T-shirt, fake fangs, and has a pair of claws on the table. The tip of his nose is painted black and whiskers are painted on his cheeks.

"Aw!" Rue squeaks, "Who painted your face?"

Edward shakes his head.

"ITW'SARTELIND!" Kelley shouts with a grin.

"AW!" Rue smiles.

Edward blushes.

"I know, right!?" Bonnie asks.

"So she's coming with you!?" Rue asks.

Edward nods, blushing harder.

Everyone grins.

* * *

Tanner and Arrow hang out at the Cooper house. Tanner's parents are out at a party so the two boys have the house to themselves.

"So, what do you want to do? Scary movies?"

Tanner shakes his head, "No… I hate scary movies."

Arrow laughs, "Halloween classics it is!"

He puts the Halloween episode of _Garfield _on the TV and sits next to Tanner.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

"A lot better," Tanner says, "Thanks. Really, thanks."

"Sure," Arrow says, sliding an arm around Tanner.

"We're a thing, right?" Tanner asks.

"I'd sure hope so," Arrow says softly.

Tanner smiles, "Then we don't exactly _have _to pay all of our attention to the movie…"

Arrow grins down at him, "Yeah?"

Tanner nods, "Yeah," and then kisses him.

* * *

"Clove!"

She's sitting on the couch in their TV room, "What Athena?"

"Why are we just sitting here? We should go Trick-or-Treating!"

"We're seniors in high school!" Clove says, "We don't Trick-or-Treat anymore!"

"Then let's go to the Halloween Dance and meet boys!"

Clove shakes her head. "Athena, you know why I can't stand to."

"You need to get over him, Clove," Athena says, "Cato is gone. He's at college."

"Come on. Tell me you never think about Theo."

"I don't!" They both know she's lying.

Athena plops down on the couch next to her step-sister.

"Fine. But if we don't eat popcorn and watch scary movies, I'll be disappointed in you."

Clove smiles at Athena. "That sounds like fun."

* * *

Edward meets up with Artelind as well as her friends, Caeda and Finny. Neither of them consider a date, but everyone else considers the group to be on a double-date.

Kelley hangs out with Bonnie. He's actually quite the dancer, but always denies it.

Nate hangs out by himself at the dance, doing nothing more than flashing Daphne and her friends from Liberty a smile and Elijah and Linus a wave.

Skeeter stumbles around the cafeteria and Rue helps him, "Hold it!" she says with a giggle, "You're trailing!"

She takes the toilet paper back to his leg.

Skeeter's laugh sounds muffled as the toilet paper fell over his mouth in the night.

Locke drags Jason to the dance, tagging along with Indigo and Faorin, who are dating, and their friend who was lovingly nicknamed, "Bubbles."

Santana goes but only because she wants to escape her family for a night. She stands alone, staring at the pocket watch she bought from Ben and wondering where he got it from.

"Santana looks lonely," Locke points out. "Should someone talk to her…?"

They all look at Jason.

"W…What!? W-why me!?" Jason stammers awkwardly.

"Because she doesn't hate you," Locke says simply.

"Well, uh…"

"Go, Scurvy-Dog Hollow!" Faorin growls in her pirate voice. It's her best retaliation for the bullies that tease her about her eye-patch.

Indigo looks amused.

Jason walks over awkwardly.

"Hi Sleepy Hollow," Santana says quietly.

"Hey Santana…" he says awkwardly.

She messes with the watch in her fingers.

Jason gives it nothing gbut a short glance and looks back up at her quiet, dark eyes.

"So, Jason, why aren't you with Locke?"

"I, uh, we, uh, thought you looked lonely…"

She smiles slightly, "So thoughtful of you."

Then she looks back down at the watch.

Suddenly, Jason snaps into action, "That watch!"

"Nice, isn't it? Ben Hoffsteader-"

"The jackass."

"You can say that again, kid. Anyways, the scumbag sold it to me for $100. It's nice."

"Santana! I need that watch! I NEED it!"

"Well I need it, too!"

"No, you don't understand!"

"Neither do you! Jason, I really need this. It's, uh, not for me, anyways. It's for my father."

"Santana, that's Locke's watch! It's the last memory he has of his father… It's his whole world! We thought it was gone forever, but… Santana, you saved it! It would make his world if you let me give it to him!"

Santana bites her lip, in thought. "Tell you what. You give me either 100$ or a gift for my father just as good if not better than this one, and I'll happily give you the watch back. Deal?"

Jason grins, "You have yourself a deal!"

"Fine. Good. But keep in mind I'm only doing this because I don't hate you. So, don't do anything stupid."

"Thank you so much, Santana! And, uh, do you want to hang with us?"

"No," the girl sighs, "My curfew is soon; I should be on my way home."

Jason nods, "Yeah… Ok. But, really, thank you so much!"

"Don't thank me until this hunk of ticking metal is back in your hands."

He nods.

She frowns, "And tell Locke he's lucky he doesn't have a father."

She walks home before he can question this.

He walks back to his friends, not sure how he feels.

* * *

"See him?" Daphne points out Nate to one of her friends. "He's a jerk."

"He's cute," Bristol says.

Daphne wrinkles her nose, "Don't say that. He can't even keep it in his pants, anyways."

Nate smiles and waves at them.

Delly and Bristol wave back, but Daphne doesn't.

"Come on," she says, "Let's get out of here."

They follow her as she walks away.

"You look lonely." Platinum, the new student teacher who is a chaperone for the dance, leans on the wall beside Nate.

"I am," Nate confesses.

"You're the one that told all those jokes," he says.

"No one liked them," Nate says flatly.

"I appreciated them."

"Those are hollow words."

"Well I mean those words. As a college kid who never did great in school, I don't get a lot of humor in my life, usually. I think jokes lighten the mood."

"True," Nate says, "But they don't really make me friends."

"You seem pretty close to the blue-eyed boy."

"He's my best friend," Nate says, "But he has a boyfriend now so I come second to him. Third, if you count kittens."

Platinum chuckles slightly. Nate gestures to Elijah and Linus, "Everything would be different if I had a girlfriend. All around me are all these happy couples and I'm just that goofy kid that can't grow up."

"I think it's charming," Platinum says, "And you're the good kind of immature, not the bad."

Nate sighs, "I'm having trouble believing that."

"Well, you should. Girls like a guy that's confident. Also, don't'ya know, so do guys."

"Nope, sorry, but my door down NOT swing that way."

"Respectable," Mr. K says, "Very respectable."

"But I tried talking to a girl I liked this ear, and it didn't go well."

"Aw, that's too bad. But that doesn't mean you should stop trying."

"Sure it does."

There's a pause.

"You know, a student teacher's job is to learn how to teach. And when I first came to Panem, Mr. Everdeen told me that there's more to teaching than just teaching. It's about being a mentor, someone to assist you, someone to help you when you fall, a wise motivator, but most importantly, a friend. So, these are my friendly words to you: just fuck it. All of it. You're too good for it. You don't need a girl to make you happy. You have to like yourself to be happy. So put a little good ol' pun-love in that heart of yours. And love yourself a little! Only good things will happen. Because, if you hate yourself, only bad things can happen."

Nate smiles slightly, "Thank you."

Platinum nods, "Sure." He pats Nate's back and when he pulls his arm back, Nate notices jagged lines across his forearm.

"You..."

"Scars," Platinum says quietly. "Just scars. No big deal, really."

Nate frowns, "But scars last forever. You'll always see them…"

"Trust me… I know."

Nate hugs his student teacher. "Well you're too good for that, too. So… Fuck that."

"Trust me, my best friend's already told that."

Nate nods, "Well so is your new friend. Just fuck the system."

Platinum nods, with a slight smile, "Thanks Nate. Really, thanks."

Nate smiles as his student teacher one-armed hugs him.

"Maybe you should go talk to those pretty fairies over there…"

Nate nods, "Yeah. Sure."

* * *

By the end of the night, Rue and Skeeter have traded candy to their liking.

The girls enjoy themselves, throwing all unwanted candy at Vick. Madge enjoys this a little too much, and all of them end up on the floor, giggling.

Nate talks to the girls dressed as fairies and they let him into their social group. Daphne scowls.

Athena and Clove spend the night in the dark, eating popcorn and screaming at scary movies. They laugh at the less-scary movies, as well. Arrow and Tanner end up becoming too busy making out to care about the world.

Elijah and Linus dance together, Elijah taking the lead and spinning him around happily.

Kelley and Bonnie dance the night away, and something flutters inside her.

Edward and Artelind bond all night long, Caeda and Finny loving the time they spend together.

Locke and Jason enjoy their time with their friends, as well, eventually blowing off the dance to go trick-or-treating.

Platinum smiles and leans back against the wall, enjoying it here.

He loves Panem, and refuses to ever think about Capitol Academy again.

_**A/N: OK! So, coming this December (or January) is… SONG REQUEST WEEK! And I need all of YOU to request songs! Here are the rules:**_

_**Try to avoid things I've already used.**_

_**You can request as many songs as you want: but put them in the order that you want to see. Your #1 request will be a definite, and I'll try to include the others, too, but it'll be less likely. **_

_**Artist's names, please! **_

_**If there's a specific version you want me to look up, put it!**_

_**Put the song title, artist, and the character that you want to sing the song. I'll try to correspond to all requests! **_

_**These chapters won't be coming until the winter. That gives me time to get acquainted to the songs. **_

_**HAVE FUN AND I'LL TALK TO YOU ALL LATER! THANK YOU AND DON'T BE AFRAID TO REQUEST! :D**_


	18. Dreams

**Chapter 18: Dreams**

_It had been his dream since he first saw the Panem High Marching Band march past his family in a parade. _

_He looked up at his sister and said, "Valley, I want to be one of those three people in the very front of the band."_

_Elijah's mother lifted him up on her shoulders. The three-year-old's big, cerulean blue eyes twinkled with pure amazement. "You wanna be in the marching band, Lijah?" she asked, amusement in her voice. _

"_I wanna be in the very front of the marching band, mama!" he said with a smile, gently holding on to his mother's head. _

"_Those are the drum majors," his father said quietly, "Aren't they snazzy?"_

_Elijah smiled, "Yeah!" _

_His older sister Valentina wrinkled her nose, "But I don't wanna be a band geek!" _

"_You don't have to be," Mr. Crowly said with a smile, "You can be whatever you want to be. And so can Lijah." He hugged his 10-year-old daughter from behind. _

_Elijah's hair stuck up in the back but the child was amazed, "The band is so big!" _

_His mother smiled, and his father laughed. "Sure is," Mr. Crowly said quietly. _

_And it was that day that Elijah solemnly swore to himself that he would be a drum major someday. _

And now here he is. 15 years later, after practicing so hard and working so hard, he's here. He's in the very front of the band, with the snazzy uniform.

But, even so, the boy's hair still won't stay down.

The temperature outside is thirty degrees Fahrenheit and so cold, it's supposed to snow that night. But Elijah is excited to be marching outside.

This has been his dream since he was such a small child. And Elijah knows that his father couldn't be prouder of him. And, he's sure his Mom would be proud of him too, if she could see him. Who knows, maybe she can?

The only thing that would make this day happier for Elijah would be to see his mother in the crowds that form on both sides of Main Street. But Elijah feels sure that she's watching them all the same.

This was Elijah's dream since he was three. And he is finally getting to live it!

* * *

Locke's dream also lies in that field.

As a child in Liberty he never got the opportunity to express himself as much as he would like. And, being such a crime-filled area, there weren't many opportunities for kids to have fun safely.

But there was one place that Locke would go to completely escape from everything in that terrible, dark area: music.

It started when Locke entered fourth grade. He was one of three tenor saxophones in their school's band. But Locke wanted to be heard. His single father just couldn't find the money for Locke to get private lessons, but that never mattered to him.

Locke was never in it to be the best. He only played to, well… Play. And that, above all things, is what always gives him the edge.

After his father was killed, Locke had nowhere to go. He could somewhat confide in Jason, but he never really had the heart to say anything to Jason.

Locke was hurt so incredibly deeply that he couldn't even talk to Jason about any of it.

And the fact that it hurt Jason so much hurt Locke even more.

But there was place that was always there. One place that Locke can always go to calm down, one place that is permanent, one place that will never fade or go away, and one place that calms Locke's spirits and makes him feel good inside. One place for him to go, one place that helps him fight those feelings of guilt, those events that make his heart heavy, that helps him fight those scary thoughts that he should harm himself…

And that place is music.

It is Locke's one true love. He can always find comfort in music.

And, now that his last memory of his beloved father is gone, Locke goes there a lot.

Jason sometimes sits in the next room and listens to Locke play. He dare not disturb him while he's practicing, but Jason still taps his foot along with the jazzy tunes that Locke plays on his saxophone.

Locke's biggest dream at the time is the pocket watch. He's lost faith in his ability to find it and doubts he'll ever see it again, but he can hope, right?

And his more long-term dreams include being a senior leader in the band: if not that, then a drum major for sure. Another of his dreams to be the principal player of the tenor saxophone section, which he feels is within his reach. He wants to graduate with honors at least, no matter how much work it may be, and he wants to go to college: what for, Locke isn't exactly sure.

Jason sits in his bedroom and searches for something, anything, that he can give Santana in exchange for the watch. His dream for the near future is to get that watch back and surprise Locke with it. Part of him wants to tell Locke about it. He feels like his friend could help him get the watch back.

But he also knows that Santana might be stubborn. He knows that she can be bull-headed and she knows that she can be deceiving. If he does one stupid thing (which, yes, he can tend to do), she might revoke the offer and keep the watch for her Dad. If he were to lose the watch, and Locke were to find out… Jason isn't sure where he could go. He likes his trumpet but he just doesn't have that passion like Locke does.

So Jason decides to hold off on telling Locke about it, for now. Just for now. Just until he gets the watch back in his hands.

But it's still a dream all the same.

Jason has other dreams, too. He wants to be a senior leader or drum major, he wants to attend college. Jason wants to be successful and he wants everyone he cares about to be successful, too.

* * *

Marvel's dream was always fuzzy. He was never sure what it was.

For a while, he thought it was to be the coolest kid ever. Marvel wanted to be the most popular kid in the whole school. He wanted to be the one who all the hot girls and he wanted to be the one that everyone wished to be.

But Marvel looked at it the wrong way, though. He was obnoxious and rude, and he didn't even try.

Poppy helped him find his dream: to have lots of friends. To feel loved.

And he was just approaching it the wrong way.

And Skeeter helped him to make friends that really count, friends that loved him for the person he is. And that right there is Marvel's true dream.

Marvel's favorite people are Rue and Skeeter, and everyone else in the glee club, Vick and his friends on the football team, Poppy, and his uncle, Gloss.

Marvel loves all of them with all that is in him, and he's decided that he needs nothing else to make him happy.

Now Marvel can see a new future for himself… One where he goes to college, one where he passes high school, gets all A's and B's on his report card… One where he can do whatever it is he wants to do and can be wherever he wants to be. That's another one of Marvel's dreams.

Those are Marvel's dreams. And, as of now, he gets to live them.

* * *

But Gloss doesn't have any dreams. Not that he knows of, at least.

He loves his family, as much as he doesn't show it.

His brother was Marvel's father, and was killed in a drunk accident when Marvel was only 5. But Gloss, who barely graduated high school, didn't apply for college, and never really wanted to do anything with his life.

In fact, there have been times when Marvel was afraid his fate would become the same as Gloss's: living on his brother's couch and not having enough money to make a living away from his family.

No matter how much Marvel's mother coaxes him, Gloss is positive that he can't go anywhere now. It's too late.

On this rainy Veteran's Day, Gloss looks out the window and takes a second to think about his life.

His barren, empty, wasteland of a life that he's wasted lying on a couch and drinking away his weekends.

He runs a hand through his hair. This isn't what Gloss had dreamed about in high school at all. He dreamed of being a star hockey player, or a wealthy businessman, or even a happy entrepreneur…. Not… This.

Gloss has no dreams, but he wants to find dreams. Maybe that could be one of his dreams… Gloss doesn't know.

He thinks about everything he could do with his life from here. Gloss doesn't want to try to go to school… Not yet… But he's tired of sitting around and doing nothing.

When Gloss searches himself, he realizes that he does have a dream. A dream that radiates love and that's been in the back of his mind for years. Gloss wants to protect his family and keep them safe. He wants to always be sure that they have a wonderful world to live in. He wants to ensure that they can always make their own decisions, and he wants to protect them and their opinions. He wants to make sure that his sister-in-law, nephew, and even the O'Callaghan brothers live in such a wonderfully free country like America. He wants to help with that. Gloss wants to make a difference, he wants to help the cause.

And it's that day, November 11, 2013, that Gloss decides that he wants to join the Army.


End file.
